photo taken summer 1973(?) by Dave Wiecking
outside his boss's office at the Federal Insurance Administration
Charles ("Chuck" to many) was born in Bluffton, Indiana, the second son of Judge Frederick August Wiecking Sr and Marie White Wiecking. He was predeceased by his father in 1936, his brother Frederick August Wiecking Jr in 1963, and his mother in 1990.
He was an active member of the church choir at St. John's Church until 2000, and also sang with the Choral Arts and Cathedral Choral Societies, and from 1952-1955 served as the last volunteer Choir Director of Immanuel Church-on-the Hill in Alexandria. He was on the Vestry, and served as Junior Warden and Senior Warden of St. John's in the late 1960's. When the Rector suddenly died in 1979, the parishioners asked him to serve again in their time of crisis. He also served as Treasurer and Secretary of the parish. At the time of his death, he was serving as co-business manager of the church's Opportunity Shop and chairman of its Memorial Garden.
In his retirement, Charles particularly enjoyed organizing the other XSW's (Ex-Senior Wardens) for the annual Pancake Supper. In 1991 he donated a small organ for the chapel in honor of his grandmother (Mary Studabaker Wiecking), and personally drove it in a large van to St. John's from the Kansas factory where it had been specially created.
His 1981 performance as Koko in the St. John's Parish production of "The Mikado" was memorable. He was also called on frequently to play ragtime or "potted palm" music at various functions in and out of the parish. He accompanied the chorus at Pyle Junior High for several years. He was a ballot box judge in his local precinct from 1986 thru 2002. He was a member of the Kenwood Country Club and the National Democratic Club.
In recent years he and Nancy enjoyed travels to Egypt, Australia, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Europe. Their final trip last fall was to a series of British cathedrals for evensongs.
He attended Park School in Bluffton and William Read Elementary School in Hartford before the family settled in Indianapolis in 1933, where he attended Schools #84, 43, 76 and 66. He graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in May of 1942. He briefly attended Purdue University before serving in the US Army from July 1943 to February 1946.
Taking advantage of the GI Bill, he studied Economics at Indiana University. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Economics in June 1948, and was editor of the 1948 Arbutus IU yearbook.
He joined the US Bureau of the Budget in September 1949 as a Research Assistant, before returning to study and teach at the IU Economics Department for several months. In March 1951 he moved back to the Washington, DC area, where he would remain the rest of his life, and joined the US Housing and Home Finance Agency.
In December 1952, he married the former Nancy Jeanne Hutson at St. Alban's Church in Washington, DC.
Upon being RIFed in July 1953, he worked briefly for the Veterans Administration. In November 1954 he returned to the Housing and Home Finance Agency to join the Office of the Administrator. In 1957, he and others received a team commendation for "initiative and ingenuity in the study and research necessary to the establishment of the Flood Indemnity Program".
In 1965, the Housing and Home Finance Agency was folded into the newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 1968-69 he served on a detail to the new Federal Insurance Administration (he later stated he was the first employee of the FIA), and also attended a select UN Seminar for Government officials in Bruges, Belgium. In 1970 he was appointed Assistant Administrator for Program Development, with responsibilities for the newly-established National Flood Insurance Program and National Insurance Development Program (covering losses from riots and civil disorders). He managed the initial insurance programs and was responsible for all administrative and program development activities of the FIA during his time there.
In December 1974, having risen about as far as a good Democrat could in the Nixon Administration, he resigned from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to join the newly-created House Budget Committee, where he worked until he retired from the US Government in February 1979.
After his retirement, he worked as a temporary employee for the United States Railway Administration in 1980, providing assistance in preparing budget justifications for Congress as it considered transferral of the functions of the USRA, and briefly as Deputy Controller of the US Synthetic Fuels Corporation.