Charles R. Gamper

SANDWICH ; Charles Richard Gamper, 89, a longtime resident of Diamond Ledge Road, died Tuesday, Nov. 25, of cancer at the Pickersgill retirement community in Towson, Md.

His career was in education, most of it as a mathematics teacher at the Gilman School in Baltimore where he also served as a coach, athletic director and dean of students. He received numerous honors, including the 1983 Holmes Award for distinguished service. Students dedicated the yearbook to him on four occasions. He was president of the Maryland Scholastic Association from 1972 to 1984 and had earlier been its secretary.

His long connection with the Lakes Region began in the mid-1950s when he began spending summers as a counselor at Camp Deerwood and then head counselor at Camp Asquam, both in the Squam Lake area.

He and his wife of nearly 60 years, the former Jacqueline Langrall, bought the home of former Carroll County Commissioner Arthur Brown in Sandwich and retired there in 1986, becoming active in many community organizations throughout the years.

Locally, Mr. Gamper served as a substitute teacher in the Inter-Lakes and Moultonborough school districts; as treasurer for the Sandwich office of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen; treasurer of the Federated Church of Sandwich, and was instrumental in developing a new Christian education space in the church's lower level; started a stamp club for children at the Sandwich Elementary School; and for many years was a volunteer driver in the Meals on Wheels program.

According to an article in the Baltimore Sun, Mr. Gamper was born in Halethorpe and raised in Philadelphia, played football at the Culver Military Academy in Indiana and earned an education degree at the University of Pennsylvania, where he played football on a team in an intercollegiate league for players weighing no more than 150 pounds. He was a member of the school's Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

He enlisted in the Army in 1941 and was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps. He served at the siege of Bastogne in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. He later remained in the Army Reserves and left the service as a lieutenant colonel in the 1960s.

In addition to his wife, Jacqueline, he is survived by three sons, C. Richard Gamper Jr., William H. Gamper and Thomas O. Gamper, all of Baltimore, and eight grandchildren.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 20 at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St., Baltimore. A memorial will be held at the Federated Church of Sandwich in the spring.