Charlotte Lane Flickinger

CANFIELD Charlotte Lane Flickinger, 89, passed away peacefully Saturday afternoon at the Assumption Village Care Center after a long illness. Charlotte was born May 17, 1915 in Mineral Ridge, OH. She was the daughter of Mr. Joseph Buford and Mrs. Hallie (Cline) Lane and was a lifelong area resident. Education and teaching were Charlotte’s passions and enriched all who knew her. Mrs. Flickinger was Valedictorian of her high school class at Mineral Ridge, OH in 1933. She graduated with honors in English from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH in 1937. In 1938, she attended Duke University where she completed graduate courses in English. In 1939, she returned to Mineral Ridge where she taught English and French at the Mineral Ridge High School until 1945. Charlotte completed a Masters of Arts degree at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin in 1946. After completing her Masters of Arts degree she taught for a time at Wilmette High School on Chicago’s north shore. She subsequently accepted a position at Kent State University’s Canton, OH branch where she was Chairman of the English Department until 1949 when she accepted a position on the main campus of Kent State University in Kent, OH. In 1951, she attended the Breadloaf Conference in Middlebury, Vermont where she studied under poet Robert Frost. She returned to teach at Breadloaf as a guest lecturer for two subsequent semesters. Charlotte married Robert Flickinger of Canfield, OH in 1952. With the arrival of her children in the mid 1950’s, Charlotte moved from teaching full time to being a full time mother. As her children reached adolescence, Charlotte returned to teach English at the Warren Branch of Kent State University and later was an assistant professor of English at Youngstown State University. Her most satisfying years were spent teaching at the Penn Ohio College in Youngstown, OH from which she retired in 1995 thus completing a 50-year teaching career. Charlotte will be remembered with love and respect by the many students in Youngstown, OH and elsewhere who were fortunate enough to have been the object of her selfless devotion to teaching. Charlotte was a person of deep religious convictions. She was an 80-year member of the Presbyterian Church in Mineral Ridge, OH, which she joined when she was only 10 years old. She was an associate member at the Canfield Presbyterian Church where she served as an adult Sunday school teacher and later, a nursery school teacher. She was an active member of women’s clubs and participated vigorously in the life of each church. She was a member of the Canfield Republican Woman’s Club and was its former chaplain. For years she was on the Speaker’s Bureau and presented numerous book reviews to various groups across Northeast Ohio and beyond. She will be remembered by all as a selfless, kind, devoted and loving person who spoke ill of no one. Her husband, Robert Nash Flickinger passed away October 10, 2001. Charlotte leaves two daughters; Kathy Marlane Flickinger Naypaver (Ron) of Canfield and Hallie Francine Flickinger of Boardman, one son; Dr. Allen Lane Flickinger of Toledo, two stepsons; Robert and Stephen Flickinger both of Florida; one sister, Marguerite Bowden of Kettering; seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. Besides her husband, Charlotte is preceded in death by a daughter Harriet Kay Flickinger and a brother, Joseph O. Lane. Family and friends may call from 4 to 7 pm Wednesday at the Lane Funeral Home Canfield Chapel, and from 4 to 7 pm Thursday at the Lane Funeral Home Mineral Ridge Chapel. Visitors may also at the First Presbyterian Church in Mineral Ridge from 12 noon until the beginning of the church funeral at 1:00 pm. Internment will occur at the Kerr Cemetery. A luncheon to celebrate Charlotte’s life will follow at the Lane Family Center in Canfield starting at 3:30 pm.