Our beloved father and grandfather, Charlie Sapp, passed away quietly in his sleep in his apartment at Morningside at Menger Springs senior living community in Boerne, Texas. He was less than a month from his 88th birthday when pancreatic cancer finally prevailed.
Charlie is survived by his daughter, Dawn M. Simons, two of his three sons, Douglas W. Sapp and Darrell W. Sapp; his son-in-law, Laird H. Simons III; his three daughters-in-law, Dina Sapp, Kendall Sapp and Cynthia Sapp; and his five grandchildren, Courtney Sapp, Clayton Sapp, Lauren Sapp, Kendra Sapp and Ashley Simons. He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Lori; and his eldest son, Bradley R. Sapp, who also died of pancreatic cancer.
Charlie Sapp was born in rural South Dakota in the depths of the Great Depression and raised on a hardscrabble farm without electricity or indoor plumbing. The product of a one-room school, he determined one bitterly cold winter day, while shoveling manure, that farming was too hard and that he was going to go to college. Farming, however, was deep in his DNA and he never strayed far from food-related pursuits.
His journey began at South Dakota State University, where he majored in dairy manufacturing, and, after his marriage to Lori Johnson in 1955, continued at Michigan State University, where he got a master’s degree in food science.
Following a half dozen years in Wisconsin and Michigan managing creameries and a vegetable canning factory, he shifted into various executive roles at supermarket companies in Southern California and ultimately at H-E-B in San Antonio, Texas, where he has lived for the past 37 years.
