RIP Chris Charron

Wed March 30 2016
Posted Mar 30, 2016
12,616

Chris Charron (1961-2016)

We are saddened to learn that Chris Charron, of Maxwell, IA, passed away on Friday while visiting his daughter and grandchildren in Pennsylvania. Chris worked extensively with former RAGBRAI Director Jim Green and RAGBRAI while at the Des Moines Register. He was instrumental in RAGBRAI’s adoption of advanced computer tools and methods, and was involved with the early phases of the RIDE RIGHT effort. Chris’ love of RAGBRAI extended well beyond his professional career. He was the driving force behind Team Virtual RAGBRAI, which pioneered live blogging (before blogging was even a term) with multimedia each day of the ride. Their team would collect pictures, videos and sound recordings throughout the day. Chris would usually stay up until 2 AM, editing the stories and multimedia, and posting them to their team’s website. Team Virtual RAGBRAI had a viewership that reached around the globe. It was WAY ahead of its time and their RV was legendary. On RAGBRAI XXX, he towed flags behind his bike that had been flown at the twin towers site in New York City, from Forest City to Charles City for use on the main stage that evening.

For those of you who knew or met Chris, he was always there to help you and always had the back of the underdogs. We was the driving force of the Moran Family Benefit in 2002, which assisted the family of John Moran, a firefighter and avid RAGBRAIer who lost his life in the 9-11 Attack. In later years, he was involved in live casting high school football games to allow parents who were serving overseas in the military to listen and watch their children. In recent years, he enjoyed riding the High Trestle Trail, especially the Full Moon Rides.

Chris had a huge heart and will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Jan, their family and friends. He will be missed by the RAGBRAI community.

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Christopher "Chris" Charron, 55, of Maxwell passed away Friday, March 25, 2016, in New Providence, Pennsylvania.Chris was born February 15, 1961, the son of Kenneth Charron and Helen "Cleo" (Slowey) Bruckmeier. He graduated from John Marshall High School in Rochester, MN and Austin Area Vocational Technical Institute. He was united in marriage to Jan Harding on May 17, 1986 in Altoona, IA. Chris was a software engineer for Businessolver, Inc. in West Des Moines.Chris shared his smile and laughter with everyone he met. He was always scheming new "ideas" that turned into major productions.

He enjoyed bicycling and was very active in the RAGBRAI community, including heading Team Virtual RAGBRAI for many years.

He was an amateur radio operator and also produced broadcasts for various high school basketball and football teams, and had a special place in his heart for Woodward Academy Knights.Chris is survived by his wife, Jan of Maxwell; his mother, Helen (Karl "Fred") Bruckmeier; his daughters: Jenna (Jon) Hill, Kacey Charron and her fiancé Justin Flaws, and Taylor Charron; his brothers: Michael (Lori) Charron and Tim Charron; and his granddaughter, Lauren Hill, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father and a nephew.

Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, at the Maxwell Community Center in Maxwell. Memorial services will be 10 a.m. Thursday, March 31, also at the Maxwell Community Center.

Memorial contributions may be made to RAGBRAI Dream Team (http://dreamteamdesmoines.org/).

Rasmusson-Bacon Funeral Home in Maxwell is handling arrangements. www.rasmussonfh.com

BIKEIOWA NOTE

We knew Chris for at least 16 years. We rode bikes. We talked about bikes. We talked about technology and websites before Facebook and Gmail was around!

We really got to know Chris after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. A group of avid cyclists combined forces and raised over $40,000 for John Moran's wife, Kim and their 2 sons. John Moran was a member of Team Escape From New York and was killed in the 9/11 attacks. Over 1,000 people attended the event in Jan 2002 including 10+ Escape From New York teammates and Firefighters from all over the state of Iowa. It was an amazing event and it just shows the caring nature of Chris. More about the Moran Family Benefit.

We will you Chris. RIP Friend. Tailwinds forever.