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Charles Joseph Chetner, 86, Former Cortlandt Fire Commissioner

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Charles Joseph Chetner, a resident of Poughkeepsie, died Satuday, July 23. He was 86.

He was born  April 12,1930, in Lodi. In 1944, his family relocated to a dairy farm in Cooperstown, N.Y.

He graduated from Cooperstown High School in 1948 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served as a cook in the Panama Canal Zone and on the USS LST 1071, Panama, and was honorably discharged in 1952. He began working at The Hackley School in Tarrytown shortly thereafter.

On Oct. 15, 1955, he married Catherine “Kitty” Furphy in Tarrytown. Subsequently, he began a 38-year career at what became Peoples Westchester Savings Bank.

He and the family moved from Tarrytown to Montrose in 1966, and then he and Kitty moved to Fishkill in 2008. While building their family and his career, he volunteered as a firefighter, beginning with Tarrytown’s Washington Engine Company as well as Cortlandt Engine Company and Rombout Fire Company.

He served as a fire commissioner in Cortlandt and served as grand marshal of the company’s annual parade in 2008. He was also a member of several Roman Catholic churches (Cooperstown’s St. Mary’s Our Lady of the Lake, Verplanck’s St. Patrick’s, Buchanan’s St. Christopher’s, Fishkill’s St. Mary’s) as well as the Lions Club International and the American Management Society for many years.

He is survived by his wife, Kitty; his sister, Helen; sons James (Debbi), Michael (Laura), and John (Karen), and daughter Ann (Eric) Kummer; grandchildren Mike (Sara), Holly (Jesse) Schorz, Emily, Megan, Stephanie, Paige, and Joseph and Matthew Kummer; as well as great-grandchildren Hailey, Tyler, Jennifer and Allison and Jackson Schorz.

He was predeceased by his parents, Charles Chetner and Helen (Korinek) Chetner.

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