Charles (Charlie) Jedicke ... highly decorated airman

ROCHESTER - Charles (Charlie) Jedicke, Lt Col (Ret), U.S. Air Force, died on April 7, 2022.

He was born on July 28, 1947, and raised in Portland, Maine, where he married his Portland High School sweetheart, Pauline Turner in 1969. Shortly after graduating from New Hampshire College in 1970, he enlisted in the Air Force.
Charlie proudly served his country in many capacities in the Air Force. He flew as a navigator on KC-135 refueling aircraft on two tours during the Vietnam conflict, including over 200 combat hours refueling fighter aircraft. Returning to the States Charlie served as a KC-135 aircraft adviser to the New Hampshire Air National Guard at Pease AFB, and during his second tour at Pease as Mission Director for the Pease Tanker Task Force and Commander, Detachment 8, of the 2nd Aircraft Delivery Group.

He was also an academic flight instructor and Flight Commander at Mather AFB, CA, Staff Officer at Grissom AFB, Operations Officer at an air base in Iceland, and he finished his career at Hanscom Air Base in Mass., where he was Chief, Theater Battle Management and Deputy Director, Tactical Missions at the Electronic System Center. He accumulated over 2,300 flight hours in KC/EC-135, T-43, and T-29 aircraft and spent thousands of hours as part of, combat readiness alert crews, during the Cold War.
He received numerous awards while serving his country, including the Air Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal. Charlie retired from the Air Force in 1993 as a Lieutenant Colonel.
During his "retirement" he became a Realtor in New Hampshire and Maine, selling hundreds of homes over two decades. He loved traveling on vacations with his family including Hawaii, England, Florida, Quebec, Las Vegas and many other short trips throughout New England.
He was a loving husband to Pauline for 53 years, a devoted father to sons Michael Jedicke and Mark Jedicke, and an adoring grandfather to the "loves of his life" Ava Marie Jedicke and Anna Michelle Jedicke, who are daughters of Mark and daughter-in-law Alison (Ally). His greatest joy was helping Pauline babysit his granddaughters; whether it was taking them to the ocean, mountains, lakes or wherever else they wanted to go, he loved every minute he spent with them.
He also leaves behind a sister, Ann Marie Pride, brother-in-law Gary Richardson, sister-in laws Linda Bibro, (her husband Ed) and Karen Turner, along with numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Those who knew and loved him will miss him beyond words.....