Former Vincennes City Councilman Charles Stodghill “Chuck” Sebring, 37, Vincennes, died early Wednesday at his home.
He was a lover of his wife and daughter, his parents and stepparents, his dog, Hailey, and his cats, Jack and Ghost; his God, his country and of learning.
He had a kind and tender heart and would help anyone in need. His tender heart could be hurt easily, but he was strong in spirit. He grew up wit a legacy of duty to his fellow man, not only from his parents, but also from his grandparents, Charles and Dodie Stodghill, and Paul and Louise Sebring.
He was a lover of the Alices, bleeding green since birth, and a follower of Western Kentucky University and Ohio State University football. He also loved the writings of Hunter S. Thompson, using them as a road map for his life.
Sebring served one term on the council, 2012-2016. As grandson and namesake of a retired police officer, he was particularly proud of having chaired the council’s Public Safety Committee. He was a member of St. James Episcopal Church, and worked as an emergency response officer for Securitas security services at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana.
He was a past master of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons. A fourth-generation Mason, he earlier was a member of the Vincennes York Rite bodies and of Hadi Shriners of Evansville. He had been a Boy Scout scoutmaster, was, at age 12 ½, one of the youngest Eagle Scouts in Indiana history, was a member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor society and received its highest recognition, the Vigil Honor, and received the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award from the Masonic Grand Lodge of Indiana for his work with Boy Scouting. Some of the favorite events of his life were Literacy Quiz Bowl trivia competitions, and he was a member of two winning teams in Vincennes and one in Linton.
Sebring was a 1999 graduate of Lincoln High School where he lettered in wrestling, announced baseball and women’s basketball, was equipment manager for the baseball and football teams and served as manager of Indiana’s South All-Star Football Team. That experience cinched him a position as head manager of the Western Kentucky University football team, for which he was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel. But growing up as the son of a journalist, Chuck had printer’s ink in his veins. He transferred to Vincennes University, earning an associate’s degree in printing technology and also announced men’s basketball games, then earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology management from Indiana State University. For a few years he got to run the printing press at the Sun-Commercial with which he had fallen in love at age 5. He later printed and helped train students of printing technology at VU, then became site supervisor in document control throughout the construction of the Duke Energy Edwardsport Power Plant, making sure contractors had the most recent updates of construction blueprints in their hands. In the meantime, he earned emergency medical technician credentials from VU, and numerous advanced firefighter certifications while with the Vincennes Township Volunteer Fire Department, which ultimately led to his position at the Toyota plant.
Born June 6, 1981, in Vincennes, he was the son of Edward L. and Jo Ellen Stodghill Sebring. He married Jennifer (Christian) Sebring July 13, 2013.
Survivors include his wife of Vincennes, his daughter, Lydia Richey, his mother and stepfather, Jo Ellen and Earle Keller of Vincennes, his father and stepmother, Edward L. Sebring and Cindy Rider of Terre Haute.
His grandparents, Paul and Louise Sebring and Charles and Edith Jo “Dodie” Stodghill, are deceased.
The funeral will be at 10:30 am Tuesday August 28, 2018 at Goodwin Funeral Home, Rector Dennis Latta officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery.
Visitation will be 4-8 pm Monday at the Goodwin Family Funeral Home with a Masonic memorial service at 7:30pm. Goodwin Funeral Home is honored to assist the Sebring family.
