Charles Hugo "Chuck" Hadrich
Charles Hugo "Chuck" Hadrich, 74, of Rohnert Park, CA passed away on November 29, 2022, at Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa. He was surrounded by family and friends after a 25-month fight with pancreatic cancer.
Chuck was born on September 17, 1948 to Hugo and Eleanor (Gibson) Hadrich in Healdsburg, CA. He was united in marriage to Sandra Lynn White on October 3, 1970 and they shared 42 years, before her passing in 2013.
Chuck graduated from Healdsburg High School in 1966 and graduated from the Santa Rosa Junior College with an Associates of Arts degree in Police Science in 1969. He served as a Specialist in the Army National Guard from 1969-1975. Chuck was an employee of Pacific Gas & Electric for over 40 years, working as a lineman and then as a trouble shooter. Throughout Chuck's lifetime, he was active in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Union, Local 1245.
Chuck will be remembered for his strong work ethic, good humor and kind-hearted nature. His pastimes were fishing, playing cribbage and growing vegetables. He enjoyed hosting family and friends at his cabin in Plumas County. He would take guests trolling for trout on Lake Almoner in the summer and searching the forest to cut down the ideal Christmas tree in the winter. Chuck went on an annual chartered fishing trip to Sitka, Alaska, in which he returned with bountiful catch of salmon, halibut and rock fish. He made a fantastic smoked trout dip for holiday occasions.
He is survived by two sons, Kenneth (partner Jennifer Nixon) and Kevin (partner Erica Whisney); grandchildren Alexandria, Chloe, Lelia, and Mia Hadrich; Kilie, Cayla, and Tyler Nixon; great-grandchild Rylynn Bush, brother-in-law Bob Weiss; nephew Steve Weiss, niece Nancy Weiss; great-niece Allyson Cullen.
He was preceded in death by his baby sister, parents, sister Barbara Weiss, and wife Sandra Hadrich.
A celebration of life will be held in his honor on February 19th at 2pm at DeTurk Round Barn, 819 Donahue St., Santa Rosa, CA 95403. The family requests any donations be sent to Cal Trout in honor of Charles Hadrich.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Press Democrat on Dec. 25, 2022.

Memories and Condolences
for Charles Hadrich

2 Entries

Art Schwank

February 16, 2023

Our sincere condolences to Kevin, Kenneth, Chuck's grandchildren, and family. While we lived thousands of miles apart we always enjoyed reminiscing and visiting by phone. I will miss him dearly.
Art Schwank (cousin)

Joe Fong

February 6, 2023

My Name is Joe Fong and I was a local Electric Distribution Engineer in the Santa Rosa Office. We were "Drafted" by the construction department to be "On Call Supervisors" during the evening and weekends and that is how I met Chuck. I vividly remember calling a name on the list "Chuck Hadrich" to work a car pole accident on Old Redwood Highway in Penngrove in the middle of the night. For some reason that I can´t remember I had to respond to the Petaluma Yard to meet Chuck who I had never met before. I met a very confident and energetic man who was wearing his signature "Buddy Holly" glasses and introduced himself as Chuck Hadrich. There was only the two of us in the yard that evening. I remember him muttering that he needed a trailer full of rock for the car pole accident. I followed him as he ran around the yard and into the bull room and opened a key cabinet, looked in and said "Ah Ha, Ah Ha". He confidently grabbed a set of keys and ran out into the yard towards the gas department vehicles with me running behind him. He jumped into a backhoe and started it with the keys. He was fumbling with the various control levers and the backhoe was bouncing up and down as the forward and rear bucket hit the ground and the backhoe looked like a bucking bronco. I started laughing and he just stared at me and finally got the backhoe in gear and drove it across the yard to a rock pile. I followed still laughing as the backhoe was lurching back and forth as he was trying to figure how to change gears. He took a running start with the bucket down towards a pile of rock, hit it with the back wheels coming off the ground. He finally got the trailer loaded with the rock and parked the backhoe with me still laughing, looked at me confidently with a smirk and said "Pretty Funny Huh? Beats using a Shovel! " I asked if he knew how to drive and operate the backhoe, and he confidently and with a smirk again, said to me "It Ain´t Lineman Proof! " At that very moment, I knew I found a friend for life. To end this story, I spoke to one of the other crew members about the job days later, and he told me that all that rock was not used but I had an unforgettable night and a stomach ache from laughing so much.
As time went on, I would always call Chuck on overtime because he was always available and was eager to come out on overtime. I remember even speaking to his wife who impressed me because she was so supportive of him leaving home to come out and work outages. When he became a troubleman I again called him to meet me in the field to fix automated underground switches. He brought out a rug to lay on and gingerly removed the screws on the equipment, and I commented "I betcha you dropped one in the hole in the past" and he responded "Ah Ha, Ah Ha". I don´t think with his big heart he had the word NO in his vocabulary.
As I saw him at the retiree luncheons he would always pull fishing pictures out of his top pockets and show them to me. He also shared his garden with me and I reciprocated by sharing wine from my wife´s job working judging events. I regret now not joining him up in Alaska as he asked me several times, you always think that good guys like that will be around forever. Rest in peace Chuck.

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