Charles "Charlie" Wilson Jr.

Charlie Wilson Jr.

1937 - 2020

Charlie Wilson, Jr. passed January 4, 2020 at home with his family. He was born in Oakland in 1937 to Chuck Wilson, Sr. and raised in Napa. He attended Mt. George Elementary School, Napa Junior High School, and graduated from Napa Senior High School. He attended barber college in Oakland, and first worked at Top Hat Barber Shop on Freeway Drive, purchasing the shop in 1963. He married Joan Sherman in 1961, and together they raised Doug, Mike, and SuzAnne. In 1974, he became a custodian with Napa Valley Unified School District, and became an electrician with the district in 1980, retiring from NVUSD in 1996.

Despite injuries sustained as a child that limited his mobility, he was an avid fisherman and abalone diver, and enjoyed woodworking and repairing and restoring cars and anything else with an engine. As a child, he' d helped his father build homes in the avenues, and owned three of every kind of tool, which he used on remodels of the family home of almost 60 years. He was invariably hardworking and sacrificed for his family. In a Napa Register feature from the 1960's, he was described as a tonsorial expert, and the King of Expert Flat Tops. A social butterfly, he couldn't make it to a table in Jonesy's without saying hello to five different friends.

He was predeceased by his parents, Charles and Edna Wilson, and his sister, Bonnie. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Joan, his sons, Doug and Mike, his daughter, SuzAnne Regalia, their respective wives, Maria, Jill Kelley, and Celine, and granddaughters, Claire and Maddie.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Collabria Care Hospice at collabriacare.org and the Napa Food Bank at canv.org.

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