Amherst Museum mourns death of board leader

Charles “Chuck” Hamble, the tireless board president of the Amherst County Museum & Historical Society noted for his precision in compiling records, died Friday morning of an apparent heart attack, friends and relatives said.

He was 68.

As word spread around town Friday, so did tributes to his contributions, particularly to his devotion to local history.

“He was just such a volunteer at the museum,” said board member Kathryn Pixley, who worked with him for many years. “He knew so many facets of the museum work.”

Hamble could be found there at the museum’s building on South Main Street most every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, often for several hours a day.

He recently had been working on an exhaustive addendum to the society’s gravestone book.

Hamble’s efficient, no-nonsense approach reflected his U.S. Air Force career but belied his graciousness toward others.

“He was very amicable,” said Holly Mills, the society’s executive director.

Hamble and his wife, Barbara Jones Hamble, moved to Amherst County in the 1980s. “He absolutely loved this area, dear hearts and dear people,” Barbara Hamble said.

Hamble restored an historic home on Summer Hill Road, one of many roads he named in the area.

“I always called him the man from Piney River,” Barbara Hamble recalled.

Charles Leon Hamble was born in Noblesville, Ind., graduated with an economics degree in May 1963 from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and joined the Air Force soon afterward.

He became a C-130 pilot and flew in Vietnam and on disaster relief missions in Peru, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel before his 1986 retirement.

Hamble was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and was decorated by Peruvian authorities for flying relief missions after a 1970 earthquake.

Besides his wife, Hamble is survived by one daughter, Christine Hamble, and two sons, Robert and Richard Hamble, all of Columbus, Ohio; four stepdaughters, Paula Kashouty of Charlottesville, Toni Lee Roberts of Amherst, Geri Dokos of Williamsburg and Dana Koshmer of Orlando, Fla.; and one brother, Tom Hamble and his wife, Norma, of Indiana; and eight grandchildren.

A funeral service was conducted Tuesday at Whitten Monelison Chapel with the Rev. D.H. Rodgers III officiating. Interment with military honors was at Culpeper National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that memorial contributions be made to the Amherst County Museum and Historical Society, 154 South Main St., Amherst VA 24521.