Charlotte J. Chell passed away peacefully on Monday, December 28th, 2020, at Capitol Lakes Medical Center in Madison, WI after a long battle with internal injuries. She was born in Cloquet, MN, on Jun 27th, 1940, daughter of the late John Aaron and Anna Linnea Stark.  She is survived by her husband, Dr. Samuel L. Chell, and their two children, Jeremy (Sara) Chell and Melissa (Neal) Williams, and four beloved grandchildren.

Charlotte graduated from high school in Cloquet, MN in 1958 and then attended St. Olaf College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors. After completing her dissertation at Cornell University. she received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Following a teaching assignment at UW-Parkside and employment as a transportation consultant, Dr. Chell joined Carthage College as a faculty member in 1975, teaching in both the Mathematics and Computer Science Departments as well as the Great Ideas program.  As a full-time faculty member, she served as Chairperson of the Mathematics Department and the Division of the Natural Sciences. 

Professor Chell was the first woman to serve as governor of the Wisconsin section of the Mathematical Association of America. She received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1988 and was instrumental in establishing a chapter of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society at Carthage. In 2000, she became the first woman to receive the Distinguished College and University Teaching Award from the Wisconsin MAA. Professor Chell also served on the Board of Attorneys for Professional Responsibility as well as the boards of the Wisconsin Public Radio Association and Armitage Academy. 

In 2010 Professor Charlotte Chell received the 22nd Carthage College Flame Award, becoming only the second active member of the faculty to be presented with the College’s highest award. 

A lifelong devotee of the arts — in particular vocal and instrumental music — Professor Chell conceived the Christmas Festival in its current format, growing this holiday celebration from an event attended by a few hundred people into one of the most eagerly anticipated musical events in Southeastern Wisconsin. Annual attendance now tops 5,000, with three performances fully subscribed several weeks in advance. 

Shortly after Charlotte's passing, her spouse wrote the following words addressing the personal qualities of an accomplished professional who yet remained a close, personal friend to her students: "Charlotte was a great mother. Never once did I hear her utter the least bit of criticism about any of her 'children': she was mother to them all, a child of hard-working Swedish-American parents who had taught her fundamental values of discipline, frugality and trust while modeling habits of resilience and healthy living. She was confident she could be as tough as her mom, who had lived for 97 years, working as a librarian and reading insatiably despite failing eyesight. But it was her mother's initiative and efficiency as a college secretary that inspired Charlotte, allowing her to envision the scholar-teacher she might become.

Charlotte’s younger brother, Phillip Stark—a St. Olaf student who became a media technician for Carleton College—predeceased her by one year. Besides her children, Charlotte is survived by four grandchildren—Linnea and Lewis Williams of Davis, CA and Samantha and Sonja Chell of Madison, WI.  Charlotte was fortunate enough to have an “adopted” daughter, Angie Bruce Copeland.  Angie was on her own from the age of 16, ultimately putting herself through college without parental figures in her life.  At Carthage, she met Professor Chell who soon came to open up home and heart to Angie, becoming her "Mom", a relationship that continues to this day. 

Asked to name a hero, Charlotte frequently chose her father, a man of deeds, not words. He was a pillar of his community, a man who had: built homes for his family in three Minnesota communities; taken on dangerous work managing downed hot wires during winter storms; and eventually moved up in the offices of Minnesota Power and Light in Duluth. No longer needed as much in the field, he built a modern lakeside cabin for his family and put his carpentry skills to work on behalf of Duluth’s Good Shepherd Lutheran Church--the baptismal font, altar, and display cases--all examples of his craftsmanship.

Small wonder that, when asked about her life by doctors last spring, Charlotte answered: "I had a strong father."  About death, her husband recalls her saying: "It should be quite an adventure."  Not that she welcomed it: she accepted the challenge like the formidable fighter she was, reminding her husband of “Prospice,” a poem written  by Robert Browning in memory of his late wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  Although the speaker fits Robert’s self-described role, the poem rises above gender types, its narrator evoking a proactive, unyielding, indomitable spirit like Charlotte's:

'I was ever a fighter, so—one fight more, The best and the last!

I would hate that death covered my eyes, bidding me creep past.

No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers of old.

For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave.

The minute’s at an end, and the fiend-voices that rave,

Shall dwindle, Shall blend, Shall Change, Shall Become

First a peace out of pain, Then a light, Then thy breast,

O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again,

And with God be the rest!'

A virtual memorial service will be held at 10 AM on Saturday February 6th.  Immediate family will be hosting the service on site from the Meredith Ackerman funeral home in Racine.  Family and friends are welcome to join through the following link: