Charlotte Faye Hintz
Charlotte Faye Hintz
Charlotte Faye Hintz
November 24, 1940 – April 29, 2021
Oskaloosa, Iowa | Age 80
Charlotte Faye Walker was born Thursday, November 21, 1940, at Abbott Hospital in Oskaloosa, Iowa, to Ruth Josephine Warrick Walker and Raymond Carl Walker. She was their first of three children. She was petite from the beginning, weighing only 5 pounds 12 ounces.
While on their way to their home on the Glendale Road near the South Skunk River northeast of Oskaloosa, her proud parents stopped at what would become the Nelson Pioneer Farm to show off Charlotte to Miss Lillian Nelson. Raymond had done farm work for the Nelson siblings. Charlotte lived her first two years on that rented farm.
In February 1943, the Walker family purchased an 80-acre farm southeast of Rose Hill. It was to become the lifetime home of the Walkers. It was adjacent to Charlotte’s Grandma Nora Belle Warrick’s 130-acre farm, which her parents would later also purchase. The same week that the family moved to the big farmhouse, they were joined by Charlotte’s new baby brother, Leland Carl Walker, who came straight there from Mahaska Hospital in Oskaloosa, where he was born on February 15.
Charlotte’s playmates consisted of her baby brother and some purebred Scottish Terriers and their puppies, which Ruth and Raymond raised, and numerous laying hens. As a toddler, Leland is said to have looked to Charlotte for protection, especially from discipline after getting in trouble, by running to her and saying, “Baby me, “Shot!”
A younger sister, Rhonda Lynn Walker, was born June 28, 1950. Rhonda was afflicted by cerebral palsy and was never able to talk or do many grown-up activities, other than attend the Christian Opportunity Center in Oskaloosa and later in Indianola. Rhonda loved going to the Iowa State Fair. She would ride the little train several times a day. Charlotte was always a good big sister to her. Rhonda preceded her older siblings, passing March 8, 2010 of complications from a twisted bowel.
Charlotte went to grade school through 6th grade at a one-room country schoolhouse just a quarter mile east of her house, called North Taylor. It was across the road from where the Walkers’ tall concrete silo now stands. Her last grade schoolteacher there was the wife of a cousin, Alvada Wymore, who later taught music at Grant Elementary in Oskaloosa. There were fewer than 20 kids in the entire eight grades. Charlotte’s best friends were the Hickey girls, who sandwiched her in age: Beverly was younger, and Marilyn was older. Many times, Charlotte was given a ride to the movies in the back of the Hickeys’ pickup truck.
With the closing of North Taylor, the children went to Rose Hill, where grades 1 through 8 shared a building with the high school. So, Charlotte went to 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade at Rose Hill. The high school was closed after she finished 10th grade and she had to choose between Oskaloosa High School and Fremont High School. She chooses Oskaloosa, where her mother had gone and where her brother Leland also chose to go. However, the Hickey girls went to Fremont-Eddyville High School.
A special memory at Rose Hill High School: Although only 5 feet tall, Charlotte lettered in basketball her sophomore year. This was six-on-six girls’ basketball and she was primarily a guard, and mostly on the bench. However, she was needed often because there were only eight other girls on the Rose Hill girls’ team.
Charlotte joined the girls’4-H club. Her projects included refinishing furniture, sewing clothing, and making crafts.
Charlotte already had a set of friends at OHS, because her family had attended the First Christian Church in Oskaloosa. She added to that group of 20 friends quickly, because as those who know her are aware, Charlotte was never shy. She graduated from Oskaloosa High School in the class of 1959.
After high school, Charlotte attended AIB (American Institute of Business) business school in Des Moines. She lived at the “Y” while first living in Des Moines. This was the pre-computer era, and she learned calculators, adding machines, typing, business practices and comptometer machines. After AIB, she worked at Look Magazine, primarily in the subscription department.
It was while she was working in Des Moines that she went on a blind date set up by her cousin Georgina Walker (and husband Louis) Peyton. They were living in Oskaloosa, where Louis was attending William Penn College. The date was with Leland Glen Hintz, another Penn student. We all know how that ended after a long courtship: with a wedding in 1965. They were married 49 years. Charlotte’s husband Leland Hintz died November 30, 2014. He had been diagnosed with rapidly progressing fronto-temporal atrophy dementia.
Brother Leland’s version of the name coincidence is that he had been such a great brother that she was predestined to marry another Leland. We were distinguished by everyone calling her husband “Hintz” and her brother just plain “Leland.”
“Hintz” had grown up in Hedrick, Iowa, about a half-hour east of Rose Hill, and graduated from William Penn College with a BA in Social Studies. He was a letter carrier for more than 30 years and retired from the US Postal Service. They were both proud that she was able to be a stay-at-home mother and housewife. Charlotte was also able to volunteer as a teacher’s helper while Craig and Tina were in grade school.
Leland and Charlotte were both active in the Capitol Hill Christian Church in Des Moines. She was a deacon and a board member. She also did quilting as part of the sewing circle.
They enjoyed vacationing in Branson, MO, especially seeing the Christmas and Veterans’ Day shows. They both enjoyed attending and camping at the Iowa State Fair, a family tradition for Hintz since 1948 and for the two of them since 1965. Charlotte never missed a Fair until the pandemic canceled the 2020 edition last year.
They had their first child, Craig Lee Hintz, on March 16, 1966. The family experienced two harrowing incidents with Craig. The first was a near-drowning incident in Pennsylvania while travelling to New Jersey to visit her brother Leland. The second was when he was pushing a broom and the handle slipped and jabbed him in the belly, requiring surgery. Craig recovered from both of these experiences.
Craig graduated from Des Moines Technical High School in 1984. The last Tech class was 1986. He then obtained an associate degree from Des Moines Area Community College in 1987 with a major in Agri-Business. Craig operates the 550-acre R&R Walker Family Farm near Rose Hill, with nearly 100 Angus beef cows.
Charlotte’s family was not complete until the arrival of Tina Marie Hintz on February 28, 1975. Tina graduated from Des Moines North High School in 1993 and then got a BA from Central College in Pella in 1997. She married Scott Cronbaugh, an Iowa State grad from Belle Plaine, on November 22, 2008. They live in Raymond, Iowa, just east of Waterloo.
Tina gave Charlotte her first granddaughter, McKenna Rae Cronbaugh, born November 7, 2012, and first grandson, Thomas Charles Cronbaugh, born July 13, 2016. It was son-in-law Scott who nicknamed Charlotte as “Grandma Shorty.”
Charlotte was admitted to MercyOne Hospital April 16 with a variety of gastro-intestinal and cardio-pulmonary problems and transferred to MercyOne Johnston Hospice, where she passed on April 29. The cause of death was esophageal adenocarcinoma.
She was preceded in death by her niece, Laura Elizabeth Walker, on November 10, 1994 at age 16; father Raymond on July 20, 2000; sister-in-law Joan (Leland) Swanson Walker on January 27, 2008; mother Ruth on February 25, 2009; sister Rhonda on March 8, 2010; and husband Leland in 2014.
Visitation will be held at Capitol Hill Christian Church at 3322 East 25th St. in Des Moines, Sunday, May 2 from 5 to 7 pm. Funeral services will be 11 am Monday, May 3, also at Capitol Hill Christian Church, with Reverend Craig Robertson officiating. Tuesday, May 4, visitation will be held at Bates Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa at 9 to 11 am. Graveside services and burial will be at 11:30 am in Tioga Cemetery, 3373 235th St., Rose Hill, IA (Mahaska county).
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Capitol Hill Christian Church.
To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Charlotte Faye Hintz please visit the Bates Funeral Chapel Sympathy Store.
