DENVER, Colo. — Charles Leland Dorchester
passed away March 18 in Denver, Colo., in the company of his family. He was born January 13, 1958, in Little Rock, Colo., to the late Charles L. Dorchester and Harryette W. Dorchester.
Charlie is survived by his children, Ruby Vail Dorchester, Charles Leland Dorchester III and Vail Paschal Dorchester, all of Denver; Ronda Paschal, his former wife and mother of his children, also of Denver; and his sister, Julia Dorchester of Little Rock. He is also survived by Rosie, his beloved dog.
Outwardly quiet, Charlie was a kind and gentle man with a close-knit group of friends, many of whom he met in kindergarten. Charlie was educated in Arkansas, at Hall High in Little Rock; he went on to earn his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Charlie was always a faithful and enthusiastic Razorbacks fan, and was perhaps the only person in Denver to display an extra-large concrete Razorback near his front door.
Charlie followed two career paths. His first was as an electrical engineer, working for such companies as United Technologies (now Raytheon) in Connecticut and LTV (now Lockheed Martin) in Colorado.
After several years in Denver, Charlie turned to teaching, first at Blessed Sacrament, where he taught middle-school math and computer skills. Then he moved to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Early College (DMLK), where he worked as an engineering teacher in the Career-Connect Program and founded the school’s first robotics team.
Rather than seek awards for himself, Charlie encouraged his students to make their own marks. One of his greatest prides was bringing the NASA HUNCH program to DMLK. He led students in regional competitions, where they were challenged to design, build and evaluate engineering solutions to common problems that NASA faces. After 18 years of teaching, Charlie retired in 2021.
Charlie was a lifelong learner, which often took the form of building, woodworking, and home engineering projects. In college, Charlie rebuilt his car’s engine, lost several bolts along the way, then proceeded to drive the car anyways. He had a similar experience years later when he converted his bike to an electric bike. On his first trial run on the bike, Charlie discovered he hadn’t connected the brakes, but managed to bring it in for a soft landing. Charlie also had a lifelong love of the outdoors—canoeing, hiking, biking, gardening. He was happy to be outside both solo or with a group of friends and/ or family.
Charlie’s greatest pride was his family. Ruby shares that some of her best memories of her father are when they worked side-by-side in the garage workshop they built together—“I learned his old tricks and taught him some of my new ones.” Leland values memories of his time spent outdoors with Charlie, especially his skill at improvising: “One of my favorite memories was taking him for a Father’s Day backpacking trip—and he forgot his backpack. So, he used his gym bag instead to carry his belongings.” Vail remembers backyard campfires, where he and Charlie would linger, watching the stars until it grew so cold they had to go inside. “Dad was an intensely curious man, with a deep love for his children, the outdoors and life itself.”
Perhaps because of his love for being outdoors, Charlie’s favorite quote came from the movie A River Runs Through It: “Eventually all things merge into one and a river runs through it.”
A celebration of life gathering will be held at Loft 1023, 1023 W. 7th St., in Little Rock, on Thursday March 30, 2023 from 4-7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials in Charlie’s honor be made to the Sierra Club, or the Buffalo River Foundation.