Charlie Haller

Graveside services and burial for Charlie Haller, 82 years old, of White County, Tenn., were held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 4, at Smellage Cemetery in Silver Point, Tenn. Mr. Haller passed away at 1 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, at Bailey Manor in Cookeville, Tenn. He was born July 13, 1939, (in the house that his father built), at Old Baxter Road, Silver Point, Tennessee, to the late Fritz (Fred) Haller, originally from Beinwil am See, Switzerland, and Baxter, Tenn., and New York City, and the late Effie Mae Roberts of Silver Point, Tenn., and New York City. Mr. Haller attended Herren’s Chapel Grammar School and was a 1958 graduate of Baxter Seminary in Baxter, Tenn. He was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. He moved to New York City in his early 20s and was a proud member of the Carpenter’s Union for more than 55 years and was a master carpenter. In addition to his carpentry skills over the years, he also learned the plumbing and electrical trades from working with skilled plumbers and electricians over the years. Charlie did all the carpentry, plumbing and electrical work on all the houses he built. He was also skilled in masonry and block work and also did the concrete work on the houses he built. While waiting too long for the brick masons to brick his current home, he decided to finish bricking the house himself. He also did roofing work on the homes he built. Charlie never bragged on anything that he was able to do but instead would point out little irregularities that he may have done and wished he’d done differently. He was never, ever an egotistical person, always humble in his many talents. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam Nam Era and was honorably discharged. He later moved to Orange County, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley, where he met his wife, Michele Jacqueline Taggart in 1970, while renovating the bank where she worked in Monroe, N.Y. They were married on Sept. 11, 1971, at St. Anastasia Catholic Church in Harriman, N.Y. They moved into the home that Charlie built for them, at the end of 1972, and they raised their family in that home until moving to Tennessee in 1989. Along with his wife and children, Charlie was a member of the Irish American Society of Middletown, N.Y., since 1976 until moving to Tennessee. Charlie built every home he ever lived in and was residing in their home in White County, Tenn., for more than 21 years before being taking ill and having to move to a nursing facility. He even built a bridge on the property to go over a stream and installed a huge culvert. His family includes his wife, Michele J. Taggart-Haller of White County, Tenn. (Sept. 11 would have been their 50th wedding anniversary), his son, Patrick Michael Haller of White County, his daughter, Isabel Erin Haller-Gryc of Pullman, Wash.; his son-in-law, Terry Gryc of Pullman, Wash.,three granddaughters, Sarah Elizabeth Hulst, Katherine Isabel Hulst and Abigail Erin Hulst, all of Pullman, Wash.; his sister-in-law, Sharon R. Taggart of White County, Tenn.; and several relatives in the Silver Point area and the Nashville area; and two dear friends, John Amante of Orange County N.Y., and Thomas Moore of Wurtsboro, N.Y. In addition to his parents, Charlie was preceded in death by a sister, Anna Faye Haller-Beckers; his grandparents, Jessie Fate Roberts and Martha Hancock Roberts of the Herrin’s Chapel Community of Putnam County; grandparents in Switzerland, Rudolph and Bertha Haller; a sister-in-law, Elizabeth Geraldine Taggart; and several aunts, uncles and cousins. Pallbearers were son, Patrick Michael Haller, son-in-law, Terry Gryc, and Mason Young, Jared Taylor, Douglas Airhart and Scott Winningham. Father John Patrick Day, CP, officiated at the services. Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home in Cookeville was in charge of arrangements, 526-6111.