Charles "Chuck" Purdy

Charles Alan (“Chuck”) Purdy died peacefully on August 19, 2019 surrounded by family and friends.

Chuck was born on September 13, 1955 in East Chicago, Indiana. The oldest of four children, he grew up in Tucson, Arizona. As a child, he rode bikes, ran cross-country, camped with his family in the White Mountains and sang in the Tucson Boys Choir, where he cultivated his strong, clear tenor voice. He is remembered by all for his singing and had the repertoire of a living jukebox.

Chuck attended the University of Arizona, earning his law degree in 1980. He moved to Santa Fe in 1981, where he devotedly served the Northern New Mexico community for over three decades, providing personal injury and employment law. Among his most significant contributions was the “Bridge Case,” which served to improve New Mexico highway safety.

An avid outdoorsman and sportsman, his daughter and grandson grew up climbing the high mountains and 14ers on his strong shoulders. Chuck had an encyclopedic vocabulary and memory for facts and enthusiastically shared his love of flora, fauna, birds and constellations with his family and friends. Oh, and don’t forget politics and history, which Chuck could talk about for hours.

Chuck regularly pruned and “fire-scaped” his land with his treasured chain saw, earning him the nickname, “Right Hand of Mother Nature.” He was never one to hurry, so in his later years, his family and grandson affectionately dubbed him “Grandaddy Box Turtle” in homage to his first childhood pet, a Sonoran Box Turtle.

Chuck loved his family and friends with all his heart and was known by all as a kind and gentle soul. He was generously endowed with the “Goofball Gene” and was known for his wicked, dry sense of humor. His siblings particularly remember the “wicked” part.

The last passion Chuck cultivated was his love for his Rock Steady Boxing community and class, where he assumed the boxing name, “Ali,” and regularly demonstrated both his determination and his goofball nature.

His daughter remembers that Chuck lived by his own - often given - advice: “Beauty is as Beauty does.”

He is survived by his wife and partner of 35 years, Kate Cook; his daughter, Francesca Rose Bottos; his grandson, Jonah Charles Waipa; his mother, Phyllis Kell; and his sisters, Janice Cook and Rhonda Jaska. His brother, Bruce Purdy, preceded him in death. He is also survived by his nieces and nephews, Shannon Farrow, Jessica Cooper, Eric Purdy, Jaclyn Lehmuth, and Curtis Purdy; and his great nieces and nephew, Jacob Cooper, Olivia Cooper, and Kennedy Lehmuth.

His family wishes to express their heartfelt gratitude for the kind and loving care of his caretakers and doctors and for the devotion of his aides, nurses, and the administration at Kingston.

In lieu of flowers and in memory of Chuck, the family asks that donations be made to Punching Out Parkinson’s Santa Fe (Rock Steady Boxing SF) 1704 Llano Street, Suite B, #110, Santa Fe, NM 87505.  

A celebration of Chuck’s life will be held at Rivera’s Kiva Chapel of Light on Saturday, September 14th between 2 and 4 PM.