VOORHEESVILLE — Charles Patrick Arthur did the New York Times crossword puzzle in ink.

“He never had to write over,” said his wife of more than 61 years, Fran Arthur. “He was an extremely bright man; there was not a thing he did not know. He was well read, well-versed in the classics.”

The couple had fallen in love as teens and their love lasted a lifetime. “He was a charmer,” said Mrs. Arthur. “To the very end, we were close.”

Mr. Arthur died on Friday, May 10, 2019, at his Voorheesville home. He was 83.

Born on Dec. 1, 1935 in Ticonderoga, New York, he was the oldest of Alice Mary McGrath and Richard Francis Arthur’s six children. He was raised at the tail-end of the Depression and into World War II, his wife noted. “Times were tight,” she said.

His father worked for International Paper and his mother stayed home to raise their six children, and then was elected town clerk.

During the war, his father worked in the shipyards in North Weymouth, Massachusetts. “Joe Kennedy sent a bus to take the kids into Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox,” said Mrs. Arthur. Mr. Arthur became a life-long Red Sox fan.

Known as “Pat,” he graduated from Ticonderoga High School in 1953, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball, instilling a lifelong love of sports. In 1951, the Ticonderoga baseball team was undefeated and won the title, something the community celebrated for years, his wife recalled. His parents couldn’t afford to send him to college so, after high school graduation, Pat Arthur worked for International Paper for one year.

Then he and a group of friends decided to enlist in the United States Army. Mr. Arthur was held up during the medical exams because his deep veins made it hard to draw his blood, Mrs. Arthur said. So, while his friends ultimately ended up in Korea, Mr. Arthur ended up with a group from New York City and was sent to Fort Ord, California and went with the 9th Infantry Division to Germany.

Upon return, he was accepted into Cornell University and, on the G.I. Bill, he earned a bachelor of science degree from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1961.

He married his high school sweetheart, Frances Ann Hopkins, in September 1957, and they set off from Ticonderoga to Cornell as a married couple. Mrs. Arthur continued her work for the telephone company. “Sophomore year, our son was born; junior year, our daughter was born,” said Mrs. Arthur. The couple had seven children in 12 years, she noted.

At Cornell, Mr. Arthur would write a synopsis of the previous class in verse, and then get to the next class early, placing his poetic synopsis on the podium, said Mrs. Arthur. When, near graduation, he was finally discovered as the author, the Arthurs feared the worst, but it turned out his verse was revered and, for the 50th anniversary of the school in 1995, “Some of his verse was used to head the chapters of the book,” said his wife.

Together, Pat and Fran Arthur raised their seven children and enjoyed 61-and-a-half years together, with the last 40 spent in Voorheesville where they were members of St. Matthew’s Catholic Church. “We went to Mass every Sunday,” said Mrs. Arthur. “That’s how we were raised; that’s how we raised our children.”

She went on about her husband, “He was a great father. He was always there for his children … They were all involved in sports — track, cross-country, soccer, volleyball, field hockey.” And Mr. Arthur was involved along with them. “He coached Kiwanis soccer a couple of years,” Mrs. Arthur said. “And, when that group went on to be sectional champions in high school, he liked to think he was part of it.”

In 1991, Mr. Arthur retired from the Research Foundation of the State University of New York, where he had been a personnel administrator. “He did labor negotiations with unions,” said Mrs. Arthur. “Since he had been a union member when young, he got along well … Wages, benefits, he did it all,” she said.

Both of the Arthurs were careful with money. “We were raised the same way,” said Mrs. Arthur. “We knew how to handle money. We put seven kids through college. When they were young, they thought they were poor, when they didn’t have things some other kids had. But then they found out otherwise. They all went to college”

Mr. Arthur enjoyed his lifelong hobby of collecting and trading stamps. And he was a member of the New Scotland Kiwanis and Lions Club International. He was also an avid gardener, storyteller, and listener of old-time radio and his beloved Boston Red Sox.

“He loved to tell jokes and make people laugh — especially his doctors and nurses,” his family wrote in a tribute.

“One doctor said he felt like he was going to roll on the floor,” Mrs. Arthur said. “And one nurse urged him to stop by anytime, even when he didn’t have an appointment. ‘We need to laugh more,’” she said.

Mrs. Arthur concluded with this advice, which she and her husband followed: “Enjoy each day because each day is a gift.”

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Charles Patrick Arthur is survived by his wife, Fran; his children Joseph Arthur, Mary Arthur, Patricia Sisti and her husband, Tony, Richard Arthur and his wife, Lynn, Douglas Arthur, Margaret Caldwell and her husband, Dave, and Susan Gorman and her husband, Fred; exchange student and “adopted” daughter Alejandra Hernandez Stein and her husband, Jeff.

He is also survived by his grandchildren, Maia, Samuel, Michael, Alena, Patrick, Timothy, Kelly, Katherine, and Rebecca; his sisters, Maryanne Schaeffer and her husband, Clarence, Jane Banker and her husband, Dick, Shirley teRiele and her husband, Jerry, and Virginia Arthur and Tom Haluska; his sisters-in-law Betty Arthur, Carolyn Malaney, Jean Hopkins, and Helen Johnson; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.

His parents, Alice Mary McGrath and Richard Francis Arthur, died before him, as did his brother, Richard.

Relatives and friends are invited to visit with the family at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church on 32 Mountainview St. in Voorheesville on Friday, May 17, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. A memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m., followed by a reception. Burial will be private.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, Post Office Box 2025 Milford, NH 03055-2025, or to St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, 25 Mountainview St, Voorheesville, NY 12186. An endowed scholarship in his name is being established at Metropolitan State University Foundation in Minnesota; memorial contributions may be made to 700 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul, MN 55106-5000, noting the Charles Patrick Arthur Endowment.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer