Charles Morris Houston of Fresno, California died on October 22, 2024. He was born
in Fresno on February 16, 1923. He attended schools in Fresno, Stockton, Sacramento,
and Santa Cruz, graduating from Roosevelt High School in Fresno in June 1940.
He attended Fresno State College from 1940-42, studying engineering. In the summers
he worked for The Valley Lumber Company, for a saw mill on the Feather River, and in
construction for Bechtel on the Big Bend project.

Chuck joined the U.S. Navy in June 1942 and was commissioned as Ensign and Naval
Aviator in June 1943. He joined Fighter Squadron VF-14, flying Grumman Hellcat F6F
fighters and boarded Carrier U.S.S. Wasp in January 1944. He served as a carrier
fighter pilot in the Pacific from May to November 1944. He received official credit for
four Japanese fighter planes shot down and was awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross and three Air Medals.

After being released to inactive duty in September 1945, he attended UCLA and the
College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, studying engineering, art, and sculpture. He
worked as a draftsman for contractors in Walnut Creek and built his first speculative
house in Mendota, California.

Returning to Fresno, and setting out on his own, Chuck designed and produced a line
of ceramics, doing his own photography and promotion, eventually merging his former
experience in the construction business with his ceramic work. This resulted in the
building of his second speculative house, located in Fresno. In the process of designing
and building this house he developed a new tile material that became known as Terra
Stone. He oversaw the design and production of Terra Stone tiles and murals for forty
years.

In early April of 1951, Charles married Priscilla Thomas Watson. By marrying Priscilla, he
became our brother Warren's father, a privilege he took seriously until and beyond
Warren's death in 2007.

The births of three more children occurred in the same span of years that his ceramic
businesses were getting started. Our childhood was influenced by his building of the
speculative house next door, featuring his ceramic tiles and murals. We children also
remember his founding of Terra Stone Tile Company.

We grew up thinking of him as an artist—specifically a sculptor. For many years his
studio was in a large building adjacent to our house—fifteen feet away, door-to-door.
During this time, and by necessity, he became a businessman-artist, but the artist part
of the job was what he cared about most. Within a few years his home studio was
replaced by a tile manufacturing shop on Avenue 10 in Madera County. Most Houston
family members were employed by Terra Stone in some capacity over the years. It was
Brad who worked with our father for 30 years.

Priscilla Watson Houston died in 1982, and after her passing Chuck's parenting role
became more pronounced with his four children—Warren Houston, Holly Houston,
Kitty Houston, and Brad Houston—as their extended families grew. These include
Kitty's family—the Tovars (Eduardo, Elena, Stephanie, Julia); Holly's family—the Wiggins
(Grant, Justin, Ian, Priscilla), and Linda and Ray Collier (Trevor). He embraced Dennis
and Mary Lou Walsh (David, Ann, Lisa, John). And he was given the gift of many great
grandchildren, with more on the way.

In the mid-1980s, he met and later married Frances Harvey Mosgrove. He enjoyed an
active role in the lives of Fran's adult children—Karen, Anne, and James. Those bonds
expanded to include daughter- and sons-in-law along with grandchildren.

In his late 70s he wrote a book about his experience of war in the Pacific. At that later
stage of his life he had the opportunity to revisit his wartime losses and achievements
as he and his squadron mates gathered for reunions. Out of those gatherings grew an
idea for settling the record—the correction of memories and the examination of official
flight records—and after a few years there emerged a thick published volume that
builds from the illicit journals of his squadron mates. Flying with Iron Angels reviews the
squadron's experience in 1944 as the U.S. Navy engaged with the Japanese Navy over
Marcus, Wake, Tinian, Saipan, Eniwetok, Iwo Jima, Guam, Palau, Mindanao, Morotai,
Manila, Okinawa, Miyako, Formosa, North Luzon, Bataan, Luzon, and Leyte. Those
names of battle sites in the Pacific didn't get much of his conscious attention in the
decades after the war—until the 1990s when he decided to tell a war story from many
perspectives, and to offer explicit gratitude to the young men and many good friends
who had vanished fifty years before.

As we consider the totality of Charles Houston, we will certainly remember his exploits
as a fighter pilot along with his building of houses and businesses. But some of us are
more inclined to linger over other achievements ~ his (usually quiet) acts of loyalty to
his many children and grandchildren, his great capacity for productive and beautiful
work, and his sly but generous humor that re-emerged as the stresses of life
diminished. He was a beautifully mannered builder and artist.

Given that he has outlived most of his squadron mates, most of his friends, as well as
his two wives, it is a privilege to be among those few who have witnessed the
distillation of his essence as his energy has declined. We have witnessed a man who
made his living with his mind and with his hands. Then, in older age he lost his ability
to use those highly refined powers of creativity and craftsmanship. But—he kept
reading and, thanks to Brad, he kept taking daily walks through his neighborhood. And
what we saw, in the end, was his unerring kindness and grace.

The Houston family will welcome friends at the home of Kitty Houston at 415 E. Fairmont Avenue in Fresno on Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 12:00 noon. Please join us for conversation and lunch.