Charly Terpstra

Charly Terpstra aka "Poppy"," Chuck", "Fathead", "CT", died Tuesday the 18th of December peacefully at Aegis of Aptos surrounded by family and friends. He was 86 years old. He was born on November 30, 1926 in Colton, North Dakota to Ed and Tracy Terpstra, the fourth of five children. Charly was known for his eternal optimism. Always positive in life and the master of quips about how good life was. His sayings, too many to list, were his trademark and always created a positive air. Even through his bout with Alzheimer's dementia, he lived happy and loving every bit of life. He spent his childhood in Minnesota farming sugar beets and raising turkeys. His passion for farming and tractors provided for many stories of his childhood. During the Korean War he served as a crane operating technician for the United States Army. For most of his life, he worshiped and served the University Baptist Church in Santa Cruz and later at the Felton Presbyterian Church. Charly loved waterskiing, duck hunting and gardening. Most of his friends received care package deliveries of zucchini squash and strawberries on a regular basis during the summer. In the 1950's, he came to Santa Cruz and got his general contracting license where his larger projects included the Burlingame subdivision in Capitola and the Rolling Woods subdivision in Santa Cruz. He took great pride in the construction of two mobile home park, Spring Lakes in Scotts Valley and the Seacliff park in Aptos. Later, he focused primarily on building custom homes throughout Santa Cruz County. After retiring in the late 90's, he spent time gardening and he loved traveling by car throughout the United States. But there was no place on earth that he enjoyed more that his vacation home on Clear Lake. Every summer was filled with boating and family fun. The Easter Seals Society was his passion and he was devoted to making a better world for disabled children and adults. He served for many years as an Easter Seals board member. He spent most Saturdays getting his contractor and trade friends to donate their time to build cabins at Camp Harmon, the Easter Seals camp in Boulder Creek. Charly and his crew of volunteers built three cabins in 1963 and began remodeling the 11 remaining cabins. Through the years, his work crew, now called Charly's Angels, has reroofed the Main Lodge, and restored and rebuilt the camp one step at a time. Charly's Angels built all new dressers and bathrooms in each of the cabins, and added 144 new wooden bunk beds. He made sure that all the building materials at Camp Harmon were donated or discounted. There are now more than 300 Charly's Angels volunteers because, as Charly always said, "There is always a job to be done at Camp Harmon." Charly was preceded in death by his first wife, Rosemary Terpstra and his wife, Carol Terpstra and all his brothers and sisters. Charly is survived by his two children: a son, Jeff Terpstra and Linda Terpstra of Soquel and daughter, Denise Terpstra and Steve Henriques of Aptos. His loving grandchildren Ali Regan Terpstra, Stephen Terpstra, Andrea Terpstra, Matt Blaz Lindsay Blaz and he was blessed with 4 great-grandchildren - Jared, Claire, Michael and Lilly, all of Santa Cruz His family would like to acknowledge the management and staff at Aegis of Aptos where in his final years the care and love that he received was "Perfecto". A celebration of life is planned for Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 3pm to be held at the Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga Street, Santa Cruz , 95060 with a small reception afterwards. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Easter Seals at: Easter Seals Central California, 9010 Soquel, Aptos, CA 95003 attn: Sandra Gresham. Donors may also wish to use the website at www.centralcal.easterseals.com If you would like to share your thoughts and prayers with Charly's family please visit www.pacficgardenschapel.com