Charles Vincent Anthony

Charles “Bud” Vincent Anthony was born on August 13, 1929 to Edmund Lester and Anna Fern (McIntosh) in Independence, Missouri. He was preceded in death by both parents, his infant brother, his oldest brother, Owen, and two sisters,  Clara and Edna. 

As the youngest sibling, “Bud” received his affectionate nickname for being the little buddy of his older sister. He was born on the kitchen table and, as he often joked, his family ate supper on the same table that evening. Though his birth coincided with the beginning of the Great Depression, his father’s job at the gas company and a cow and chickens at home helped his family endure the crisis better than many. Growing up, he also enjoyed eating his mother’s angel food cakes. 

Charlie accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and personal Savior at a young age, cultivating a faith that allowed him to weather the challenges of life. For more than 50 years, Bud attended First Church of God in Independence, Missouri, with his wife, daughters and grandchildren. In his later years, he joined Raytown Baptist Church. He was educated in Independence’s public schools and graduated from William Chrisman High School. As a young man, he enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve and though he was never called to active duty - if needed he was ready to serve. 

On one lucky day in his teenage years, he was out “at the pictures” on the Independence Square when he met Doris, a young woman seated in front of him who would become the love of his life. They married and spent a long life together, reserving Friday nights as their time to go out and enjoy each other’s company. The couple raised two daughters, and later enjoyed making many memories with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Shortly before Bud passed, they celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary. 

Charlie worked for 43 years as a tree trimmer for the Kansas City Power and Light Company, where he was a proud member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – Local 1464. After demanding and dangerous hours of physical labor, he would come home and sit on his back porch overlooking an acre of land. Dressed in a blue-collar shirt, work boots, and jeans, he smelled like work and the trees that lined Kansas City’s famous boulevards. Beyond his day job, Charlie was something of a wheeler and dealer when it came to his role as provider. He used his truck to run a part-time trash route, and in retirement rented a booth from an antique mall where he re-sold knickknacks from auctions and garage sales for extra cash. 

As his family looks back on his life, a refrain from the book of Genesis comes to mind, “God looked down on his Creation and saw that it was good.” Charles Anthony was good – he was a good man who embraced God’s Creation. His widowed wife describes him as “the kindest, most loving person in the whole world,” and everyone who remembers him recalls his humble nature. 

In a simple, straightforward way, he found joy in life and brought it to all those around him. He liked old-time music, especially songs played with a fiddle. He was an avid learner who acquired skills from library books and a consistent reader of the Missouri Conservationist into old age. He knew the birds by sound and the trees by sight, and was a self-taught, “renaissance” man in a way that has all but disappeared today: a stained glass artist, woodworker, fisherman, hunter, gardener, beekeeper, root beer brew-master, and camper. He was even a livestock farmer of sorts who raised the family dogs, goats, bantam chickens, guinea birds, and peacocks. He had a great interest in purple martin birds. He built birdhouses for martins and was no doubt familiar with their throaty, rambunctious chirp that echoed his zeal for life. When he was older, he enjoyed raising koi fish in the garden pond he designed and built for his wife, Doris. 

Though he spent many hours tinkering in his workshop, this love for the natural world led him around the state and across the country. After learning from co-workers about the Current River near Salem, Missouri, he took his family on a canoe trip. He loved the rush of diving into the cold Ozark waters and taught his daughters to do the same. He also planned a trip to Niagara Falls in New York and saw alligators with his family in the Florida Everglades. In retirement, Bud and Doris cruised the Caribbean islands, visited the mountains of Alaska, Switzerland, Canada and Colorado, even traveling to the islands of Tahiti and Bora Bora to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. 

The generosity he practiced when planning vacations also spread to his handiwork. He created kites and swings for his daughters and repaired discarded bicycles so that his girls, their cousins and visiting friends would have something to ride. He learned how to cut and assemble pieces of colored glass, and made Tiffany lamps and other artworks he shared with his family. When a child broke a toy, he would always try to fix it, even restoring his granddaughter-in-law’s childhood doll house by hand. He shared eggs from hens, honey from bees, and gave his grandchildren tractor wagon rides with the pumpkins they picked from his home-grown pumpkin patch. He approached his home life with empathy as well: he would carpool with his co-workers so his wife could use the car, and saved supper vouchers he received from working during storms so his family could go out to eat. Once he even rescued an injured squirrel and made a home for it in a Sycamore tree. 

Though a man of few words, Bud had a sense of humor and an ornery side. When he made a joke, he would often raise his eyebrows and move his body toward the person he was talking to, and the spark in his dark brown eyes made one feel as though they were in on it. He used to quip that, though he made bad grades in school, there was at least one other guy who always did worse. He could make a convincing cow impression, and once excited his daughter’s Girl Scout troop by making them think a cow was creeping around outside their tent. He worked at a grocery store in retirement and, as a good union man, thought having to seek recognition beyond just doing his job was above his pay grade. He took a particular dislike toward the “worker of the month” stars that filled up the employee recognition board, and decided to fill up his own profile with several “unearned” stars. 

Some of the most cherished memories of Charlie come from his love for gardening. When spring arrived and the weather grew warmer, he used to plant, till, hoe, then harvest to his heart’s content. He would work in the garden until after the sun had set, and used to lie down to rest on the bright green grass. Now that his family will finally lay him to rest, in many ways they reap the seeds he planted and the example he sowed: a simple, strong faith, commitment to friends and love for family, and a fascination with the beauty and complexity of the world. 

On the evening of Monday, March 31, 2025, Charles passed peacefully in his sleep, entering the loving embrace of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. After a life spanning nearly a century, he will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him. 

He is survived by his wife, Doris of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, their two daughters and son-in-laws, Bill and Brenda Campbell of Overland Park, Kansas, and Steve and Gwen Bowen of Independence, Missouri. He will be missed by his eight grandchildren: Zachary (Michelle) Campbell, Ryan (Karen) Campbell, Marcus Bowen, Aaron (Lauren) Bowen, Brett Thomas (Melissa) Campbell, Katelyn (Luke) Davidson, Jordan Bowen, Rose (Max) Campbell and seven great-grandchildren: Margot, Anna, Grace, Elle, Diana, Beatrice, and Jonny – with one more great-grandson already on the way. Bud’s life will continue to be celebrated by a host of caring relatives and dear friends. 

Memorial donations in honor of Charles V. Anthony may be sent to Samaritan’s Purse of Boone, North Carolina. 

Services will be held at Connection Point Church at 10500 East State Route 350, Raytown, Missouri, on Friday, April 11, 2025. Visitation will begin at 10am; with funeral services beginning at 11am. Burial services will begin at 3pm at Park Lawn Cemetery, 8251 Hillcrest Rd., Kansas City, Missouri