Charles Witham Memorial Website

Charles K. Witham
The Yale Experience

Chuck went to Yale in the fall of 1986. Yale follows a residential college system patterned after Oxford, but most freshmen start out in Old Campus dorms. For his first year, as a member of Pierson College, Chuck lived in Entryway B of Wright Hall, the dorm above the Post Office. True to Chuck's character, he ventured out of his room and his entryway more than most and befriended students across the college.

The next year, Chuck moved into Pierson, Yale's "party college" and the friendships he forged there would last a lifetime. "Science" Chuck roomed with lit majors Brad and Alex, with whom he had become fast friends. In the interest of giving everyone their own space, Chuck suggested Brad and Alex take the

suite's two bedrooms and he and an adopted squirrel slept in a corner of the common room (which he later convinced everyone to paint black).

Chuck worked at the Pierson Dining Hall, donning the polyester blue to man the scalding hot water jet in the dish room. Somehow that did not kill his love of food and cooking, though that passion was surely tested again when he spent late nights cleaning the grease trap at the Pierson Buttery, the student-run snack bar in the basement steam tunnels of the dormitory. Chuck joined the other student volunteers, flipping burgers and making cheese bagels for students looking for a break from their studies or for something in their stomachs before a night of drinking. Chuck was there for all of them, although he claimed his only motivation in participating was to meet "babes."

Chuck's talent for cooking had a chance to blossom junior year, when he moved off campus to live with Tim. The two of them would create culinary masterpieces that left the Buttery's chicken nuggets in the dust. Off campus life suited Chuck. Just as he engaged the dorm entryways outside of his own, he embraced the city outside of Yale, enjoying New Haven's restaurants and spending more than a few

sunsets and sunrises atop East Rock.

During vacations Chuck opened his home in Florida to college friends flying through and to those seeking the sun and good times only Chuck and Miami could provide. Climbing a palm tree on the beach using just his t-shirt was only one of his skills.

Yale wants its students to have a diversified education, which meant a Group IV major like Chuck had to take at least a few classes that didn't meet on Science Hill. Chuck met these requirements using two other sides of his character: creativity and couch-potato-ness. He took a photography class, developing an interest he pursued past college, and a film class nicknamed, "Tuesday Afternoon at the Movies." He would rush with friends to grab the front row of the large auditorium. When the lights dimmed after the lecture, Chuck would get on the floor, kick off his shoes, prop his feet up on the stage and use his backpack for a pillow as that week's film unspooled.

Although overall his academics left something to be desired (perhaps because he spent so much time crafting origami creatures to leave at friends' doors during Reading and Finals Weeks), Chuck's science work was outstanding and he spent the summer of junior year in Washington, D.C., interning at the FDA. In their materials science laboratory, he tested polymers to determine why they develop cracks when inside the human body.

Chuck returned from D.C. for his senior year to live off-campus with Brad and Alex. To this happy

reunion, he brought his new kittens Esmerelda and Muskrat. Chuck had ridden from D.C to New Haven on a motorcycle acquired over the summer. On a rainy fall morning, he had a near-fatal accident. Chuck's friends rallied around him and his family and with their care and support he made it through with permanent damage only to an elbow.

After a two-month stay in the hospital, Chuck recuperated at home in Florida, returning to Yale for second term. He attended graduation ceremonies with his class, but received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering the following year after making up missed classes.

A lot of us remember the moment we met Chuck as the moment we became friends with him, whether it was a giggle shared in dorm bathroom or a smile exchanged in the dining hall line. A theme keeps coming up when we talk about Chuck back at Yale. Meeting him there was an "instant sensation of coolness," an "instant and easy understanding." It was nice to have met Chuck in that time when we were still kinda kids but kinda sorta getting to be adults. Like all of us, Chuck was learning who he was, but he was instantly recognizable as the cool, funny, compassionate, silly and smart Chuck we all love.