Charles Stevens Greenwood

Charles Stevens Greenwood (June 5, 1935 – November 2, 2024) passed away at home, surrounded by loved ones. With the voracious mind of an intellectual and the soul of an Iowa farm boy, he lived his life with quiet humility, never one to seek the spotlight. Yet in his time on earth, he changed countless lives.

Chuck was born in Winterset, Iowa, where he set a state record in track as a high school athlete. He attended Iowa State Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa) and began his career as a high school teacher, coaching swimming and track. He earned his doctorate in Education from Iowa State University and became an associate professor at Drake University. By the time he retired in 1998, he had risen to assistant dean of the graduate school of education. He was proud to serve as an official for the Drake Relays and was included in the Relays’ Wall of Honor, recognizing his twenty-year contribution.

Chuck was a transformative teacher with a special desire to help struggling students achieve their potential. He founded Des Moines’s first alternative high school and was inducted into the Iowa Association of Alternative Education Hall of Fame. His influence was international; he traveled to China to teach 13 different times, sometimes for as long as a year, serving as a visiting professor at Hebei Teachers University and Hebei Medical College in Shijiazhuang. The Chinese government honored him as an outstanding visiting foreign expert, and he was the first instructor to be recognized as an honorary professor of education at Hebei Teachers University. His love of travel took him to far-flung places like Dubai, Singapore, and Taiwan; and he traveled with his family all over the country from Maine to Alaska.

For all his education and international sophistication, he was a man of simple pleasures. He collected Farmall tractors and glass insulators. He won ribbons as a senior athlete at the Iowa Corporate Relays, and he played a weekly basketball game well into his seventies. A member of Beyond War, an organization that fought nuclear proliferation, he worked passionately to create a better, more peaceful world. And he was a great lover of animals, especially his little dogs. His gentleness endeared him to animals and children alike. An avid reader, his favorite book was Call of the Wild. He had a warm, deep laugh, a love of old country and western tunes, a boyish sense of delight, and a

gambler’s taste for adventure. He could cook an excellent steak.

But his real pride was his family. Chuck was the father to Steven (Maritza) Greenwood, Dana (Mary Jo Kever) Greenwood, and Brenda (Williamson) Greenwood with his first wife (Norma Jean Wight); and stepfather to Jessica (Jon Snodgrass) Gogerty, Celene (David Daspit) Gogerty, and Megan (Chris Rich) Gogerty. He spent 40 wonderful years married to his beloved wife, Joan Roberts. His blended family brought him the joy of enough grandchildren and great-grandchildren to fill a classroom.

Proceeding him in death is his son, Steve; he is survived by his wife, his other children, and the thousands of students who were fortunate to have Dr. Greenwood teach them that a better, kinder, richer, and freer life was possible. A visitation will be held on Saturday, November 16 at 1 PM with a memorial service at 2 PM at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home in Urbandale, followed by a reception at the Heartland Presbyterian Church, 14300 Hickman Rd., Clive, from 4-6 PM.

Donations in his honor may be made to the Animal Rescue League of Iowa and the Greater Madison County Community Foundation for covered bridge preservation.

Donations for the Animal Rescue League of Iowa may be made online here or mailed to:

5452 NE 22nd,

Des Moines, IA 50313

Donations for the Greater Madison County Community Foundation for covered bridge preservation may be made online here or mailed to:

1217 N 6th Ave, Suite 3

Winterset, IA 50273