Charles "Al" Veitl passed away on Friday, August 30th at Loudoun CHospital, Leesburg, VA. He was 85.
Al was born in Deadwood, S.D., to Albert Veitl and Nina Allen Veitl. He joined the Navy in 1951 and served for four years on the USS Philippine Sea CVA-47 during the Korean War. In 1956 he married Gloria Fahrni, also of Deadwood. After graduating from Black Hills Teachers College in 1958, he taught at Custer High School and during the summers served in the National Forest Service as a seasonal fire control aide.
Al joined the National Park Service in 1960. He served at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park and Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, and at Colonial National Historic Park in Virginia. After completing a management training program in Washington, DC, he was named District Manager of the North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park. He then went on to become Superintendent of Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona; Superintendent of George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia; Associate Director for Operations-Midwest Region in Omaha, Nebraska; and Chief Ranger for Activities and Visitor Protection, Washington Office (DC). He retired in 1988 from the National Capital Regional Office, which comprises nearly 90,000 acres of parks, parkways, monuments, memorials, historical sites, and battlefields across DC, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
After retiring, Al stayed in Northern Virginia. He worked part-time as a contractor for the CIA and volunteered at Travelers Aid at Dulles International Airport. He loved to travel and over the years visited virtually every state in the union and travelled often to Europe. In 1998 he became a full-time Grandpa. "Bapa" was a devoted babysitter, playmate, chauffeur, and cheerleader for his two grandchildren; in 2007 he took them to the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota where he grew up and where he and Gloria lived as a young married couple, including in an apartment over the Piggly Wiggly in Custer.
Al is predeceased by his parents, in-laws Sam Fahrni and Anna Michalik Fahrni, sister Betty Veitl Bennett, brother George Veitl, nephew Johnny Veitl, sister-in-law Patty Ann Fahrni Lee, niece Karolen Fahrni Wahl, brother-in-law and lifelong friend Leonard Fahrni, and family dogs Boo-Boo and Hoover.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Gloria; his daughter Patti Veitl Dienna and her partner Bob Phillips; his son Todd and his partner Cheryl Porcelli; his daughter Martha Veitl Albers, her husband Paul, and their two children Grayson and Gretchen; and Clarence the Dog.
He is also survived by brothers Jack and Jim Veitl, sisters Janet Veitl Ewing and Joyce Veitl Shostrom, sister-in-law Helen Fahrni, brothers-in-law Larry Fahrni and Roger Lee, cousin and childhood friend/cousin Malcolm Allen, and a small nation of cousins, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
A private service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent in Al's memory to the Association of National Park Rangers or the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation.
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