Charles "Chuck" Staples

Charles J. Staples, of Des Moines, passed away on Thursday, January 30, 2025.

Chuck was born November 1, 1932, in Plains, Kansas. He graduated from the high school there in 1950. He attended Dodge City Junior College, finishing with a liberal arts degree in 1952. He attended the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla, Missouri for a couple of years before joining the US Air Force as an aviation cadet in Texas in 1954, receiving an honorable discharge in two years. He then attended Fort Hays Kansas State College (now University) in northwestern Kansas, earning a BS degree with majors in mathematics and history in 1959.

Connie Fay Nelson and Chuck were married in 1958 and have three children, Audrey Staples Nation, Debra Khattab Siegel, and Andrew C. Staples, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

He started his working life at Bankers Life Company (now Principal Financial Group) Des Moines, Iowa in 1959 working the pension departments of the company retiring in 1992 as a senior administrator.

After retirement, he devoted his time to his hobby of writing about cactus and succulents. He was awarded several awards from The Cactus and Succulent Society of America and was appointed CSSA Historian in 2005.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Neva Staples, his brother, John Staples, and an infant granddaughter, Grace Nation.

A memorial service will be held at 4:00 p.m. Thursday, February 6, 2025, at Hamilton’s Funeral Home, 605 Lyon Street, Des Moines. For those unable to attend the service in person, it will be livestreamed below the day of the service.

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