Charles F. Wojiski

40 Years With

Pan American Airlines

Charles F. Wojiski, 87, of South Carolina, widower of Arlene Hamlin Wojiski, died February 7. He was born on October 27, 1919, in Derby, and was the son of Casimir and Julia (Kurtyka) Wojiski.

Survivors include his beloved children, two sons, Robert Wojiski and his wife, Cathy, of Newtown and Charles “Warren” Wojiski and his wife, Darlene, of Flower Mound, Texas; four daughters, Charlene Atkinson and her husband, Greg, of Murrels Inlet, S.C., Ellen Roy and her husband, Bill, of Monroe, Mary deDufour of Woodbury, and Nancy Morganstern and her husband, Stuart, of Bethany; 15 cherished grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by two sons, John D. Wojiski and R. Bruce Wojiski; a brother, John Wojiski; and  three sisters, Sophie Pater, Mary Slowik, and Julia Collins.

Mr Wojiski’s career spanned more than 40 years with Pan American World Airways where he was first employed as an apprentice mechanic. He was offered the chance to go to flight college and became the third man in the flight crew as an engineer. As a flight engineer he flew in successive state-of-the-art aircraft, including Martin Flying boats, Lockheed Constellation, on into the jet age in the Boeing 707, and finally retiring as a part of Pan Am 747 fleet of clippers. He literally had millions of flight miles under his belt and a hundred stories to go with them. He had been on crews that flew secretive supplies at night for D Day operations into Scotland during World War II, as well as flying the press plane that accompanied President Kennedy and Air Force I.

 He met Arlene, to whom he was married 47 years, while employed by Pan Am based in New York. They enjoyed many trips abroad and even lived for a time in England.

Besides flying, he loved playing cards (cribbage), collecting coins, and dabbling in town politics, although never holding any office.

Funeral services were held February 12 from the Spadaccino Community Funeral Home, Monroe, and in St Stephen’s Church of Trumbull with a Mass of Christian Burial. Interment followed in Mount St Peter’s Cemetery in Derby.

The Newtown Bee       February 16, 2007