Charles Edwin Paynter was born in Washington County, Ohio, October 8th, 1872. He passed away at his home in Alton, Kansas, November 24, 1944, at the age of 72 years, one month and sixteen days. Like so many others of his age, in the middle-west, Mr. Paynter was born of pioneer parents. His father, Daniel Paynter was born in England, his mother Helen Patterson Paynter, in West Virginia. The couple was married in Ohio and there the seven children were born. In 1879 the Paynter family came to Kansas, to take a homestead in Grant Township, Osborne county. On this farm the children grew up, suffering meanwhile the many usual hardships of pioneers, hardships interesting to the present generation as a tale that is told, but bitter experiences to those undergoing them. The better things of life, and palatable food, often could not be had at any price. Charles Edwin, least robust of the family in this respect, found eating the rough pioneer food especially difficult. But here he gre to manhood, and is is interesting to note that at the time of his death, he was the onwer of the parental homestead.
Six of the seven children of Daniel and Helen Paynter, lived to grow up, marry and rear families. John and James, the two oldest sons have been dead many years. With the passing of Charles Edwin, only three of the original Paynter family, remain. They are Will and Mattie (Mrs. B. W. Miller) of Alton, and Albert ("A.J." as he is familiarly known) of Wichita.
On April 17th, 1900, Charles Edwin Paynter was married to Miss Dollie E. Boyd, daughter of another pioneering family of the vicinity. He made a home for his bride on a farm he already had purchased in Grant Township. This farm was the family home for a number of years and there three of the four children were born. Afterward, for short periods, the family lived in Alton, and back on the home farm between times. The youngest child, Raymond was born in Alton. Eventually, in 1913, Mr. Paynter moved to Alton permanently, where he engaged in various mercantile enterprises for many years, though continuing to be a farm owner and manager.
The children are: Edward E. whose home is Payette, Idaho; Helen Elizabeth, a professional dietitian, at present of the home, having helped care for her father through the months of his last illness; Harley A. of Twin Falls, Idaho; and Pvt. Charles Raymond Paynter, of the Army Medical Corps, Camp Gruber, Okla. All of the children, and their mother, survive the father and husband. All of the members of the immediate family were present at the last rites for Mr. Paynter, escept Harley, who recently had suffered a severe illness and was unable to make the strenuous journey from his home in Idaho.
There are four grandchildren: Lieut. Charles Johnson Paynter, of the Army Air Corops, and the younger brother Kent S. Paynter, sons of Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Paynter. Chas. Paynter, pilot of a P-38 Fighter Plane, in active service over enemy territory was somewhere in Belgium at the time of his grandfather's death. He was graduated as an air pilot in January, 1944 and at the time of his graduation was married to Miss Ruth Yager, of Payette, Idaho. The other grandchildren are Maren Lynn Paynter daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harley Paynter and Richard Joseph Paynter son of Pvt. and Mrs. Raymond Paynter, of Manhattan, Kansas. Only his youngest grandchild, was present for his grandfather's funeral services.
Through hard work and thrift and enterprise C. E. Paynter became a prosperous farm owner and business man, an oustanding individual of his generation in his home community. Besides his natural aptitudes, his devotion to, and proide in , his family as a whole, contributed to his success. He was ambitious for his children wishing to provide for them the best of education and experience looking to their individual futures. A good many years ago, even then not in the best of health, Mr. Paynter retired from active business, devoting only the time necessary for that prupose to managing the affairs of his real estate and other investments. A part of the time that the youngest children were students at Kansas State College, Mr. and Mrs. Paynter lived in Manhattan.
Mr. Paynter's hobby was gardening. His vegetables, his flowers, his nursery of young trees, flourished under his enthusiastic care. The winters of these later years, Mr. and Mrs. Paynter usually spent in warner climes than Kansas. Most often in Southern Texas where "C.E." spent much of his time at ocean fishing, a sport he much enjoyed. But his Alton neighbors of long-standin gknew when spring had come, not by the arrival of the first robin but by the appearance of Charley Paynter, happily home again to the neighborhood he loved, hurrying the rounds with friendly greetings, then hurrying home to prepare his hot-beds.
In the spring of 1942, Mr. Paynter suffered a slight paralysis, partially affecting his vision. A year later, in the spring of 1943, at which time he became very seriously ill, the paralysis extended to the peech centers. Although after several weeks his general health improved, and he was able to be up and about again, almost to the time of his death, he never fully recovered the power of speech. Late in November, 1944 he suffered another paralyzing stroke, which prived fatal within a few days. At the time of his passing, the evening of Friday, November 24th, his devoted wife and daughter, Helen and his brother Will and Sister Mattie, were with with him to ease his last hours.
Last rites for Charles Paynter, from that group of Alton's older citizens, of whom few remain, were conducated Tuesday afternoon, November 28th at the Alton M. E. Church. The Rev. Glenn Claycamp, pastor of the church for many years and until recently, officiated. Mr. Paynter's last resting place is in pleasant Summer cemetery, high ground, north of Alton, over-looking the town and the bluffs of the Solomon river.
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1872 - 1944 (72 years)
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