The Life and Times of Charles Edmund Sipple
America was in the midst of the Great Depression for nearly ten years. The seeds of a Second World War were about to bloom in Europe. The heroes were athletes like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jim Thorpe. It was New Year’s of 1938 when a young and expectant Mary Sipple anticipated the birth of her first child later that month. Her maiden name was Mary Gauthier and her family originally hailed from Quebec, Canada, although she lived in Chateaugay, NY. She met her future husband while teaching in Gowanda, NY. When she married Fredrick Sipple, her destiny would forever be tied to that little town in western New York State where the Sipple family had settled around 1850.
It was John Sipple who left Germany for a new life in America. He was married to Elizabeth Sipple and their son Charles Ellsworth Sipple, would become a patriarch of the town of Gowanda, NY. Charles Ellsworth was a visionary businessman who foresaw coming trends and tried to capitalize on them early. In the 1890’s he introduced the first telephone exchange and switchboards to Gowanda. He owned one of the first power companies in the area, Gowanda Electric Light and Power Company. He also owned several automobile dealerships starting with Ford, Oldsmobile, Buick, Chrysler and others. He sold them after just a few years; however, Charles Ellsworth Sipple would go on to own a garage and general store in Gowanda, both named Sipple’s. He was married to Louise Lallman, whose father, Private Nicholas Lallman, had served in the 27th Independent Battery New York Light Artillery during the Civil War. Charles and Louise had two girls and two boys; Fredrick W. Sipple was the oldest boy.
On the 31st of January, 1938, Mary Sipple would give birth to a son at Townsend Hospital on Chestnut Street in Gowanda. She and Fred decided to name their son after both their parents. That is how Charles Edmond Sipple entered the world. At some point Charlie would accidentally spell his middle name Edmund with a “u” instead of an “o”. It was an error he never realized until his own Grandson was born in 1989.
We know just a little about Charlie’s earliest years. He was known as Chuck Sipple in the neighborhoods, schools and town of Gowanda. His Sister Elizabeth was born 13 months after him. With Elizabeth as his only sibling, the protective Chuck lovingly called her “Sis” or Sister and the moniker has stayed with her to this day. However, Chuck was still a big brother who once chased her around with a snake and would hide in trees to scare her.
While sledding near his house on Bader Avenue around 6 years old, Chuck was hit by a sled and received a gash across the top of his nose. This left him with a permanent scare and an indelible story to tell for years to come. In every other sense, life was good for the Fred Sipple household. It all changed in 1948, when Chuck was 10 years old. In that year, a brother John was born and died soon afterward. As a result, his beloved mother Mary passed away of a blood disease in that same year. Chuck was devastated and carried the memory of her loss his entire life. He would always comment to his own children that he thought it more important that the mother be around to raise her children than the father. With today’s medicine, Mary would likely have survived her illness and this too seemed to haunt Chuck.
With the loss of their mother, Chuck and Elizabeth were a challenge for the newly widowed, and somewhat detached, Fred Sipple to handle. He turned to his parents Charles and Louise to raise them both. So they went to live with their Grandparents in the Maltbie Heights section of Gowanda. Under his Grandparents tutelage, young Chuck would get his first job, a paper route. Later on he would recount stories about his working as a soda jerk at the soda fountain inside Sipple’s Cigar and News Stand. Other work experiences included bean picking and a one point a job working in a lumber yard. During his lumber yard days, Chuck worked with his friend Bob Klucik. Once while they were delivering lumber with the company’s truck and approaching a hill, Bob suggested Chuck down shift to a lower gear to prevent a rougher shift up the hill. This was the first situation where Charlie Sipple’s overconfidence with machinery would get him in trouble… it would not be his last. As the story goes, Bob was right and when Chuck shifted halfway up the hill, the truck lurched and the entire load of lumber fell out the back. They were both fired.
By the time Chuck entered Gowanda High School, he learned to play the clarinet although we presume not very well as somehow he never mentioned this in later life. He was most proud of his athletic prowess, though. He played football and basketball for Gowanda High School. Years later when some hardship would befall his own sons, he would regaled them with his own stories of adversity. He would tell them how cold it would get in Gowanda during basketball season and how he would walk home after showering to find his hair had frozen solid. Of course it was also up hill in both directions with a headwind to boot. In his junior year, he broke his leg while playing football. On crutches for a period of time, the handsome Chuck had no problem finding someone to carry his books. That was Miss Sally Cotton, who lived in the neighborhood and she became the girl for the job. There was also some mutual attraction which helped galvanize the arrangement. Chuck went on to graduate Gowanda High School with the Class of 1955. He became a fixture at every class reunion since 1990 and possibly the 25th in 1980. He was the driving force who tried to keep the Class of ’55 together by reuniting in Gowanda and Lake Wales, FL, often.
Chuck and Elizabeth’s father, Fred Sipple remarried when Chuck was about 14. This further strained their already distant relationship. At some point an incident occurred with his stepmother that the 17 year old Chuck felt warranted cutting ties to his beloved Gowanda. He left owing friends and neighbors approximately $300 as he set out in the world.
From 1955 to 1957, Charles Edmund Sipple enrolled at Cortland State Teachers College as it was known then, now called State University of New York (SUNY) Cortland. The charismatic Chuck Sipple quickly became a BMOC (Big Man on Campus) and member of Delta Kappa. He got his first taste of sushi when, as part of his initiation, he had to swallow a live goldfish. He would famously tell his children how this took several attempts to actually keep down. Although putting himself through school and hitchhiking back and forth to Gowanda due to the relationship with his father, Chuck still found time for other activities. He also found himself a girlfriend, with whom he was “pinned” - the 50’s vernacular for “going steady.” One night in 1957, Chuck and his girlfriend agreed to help his fraternity brother out. They went on a blind date with his fraternity brother and a beautiful freshman on campus named Elena Zuzzolo.
Elena’s first impression of Chuck Sipple was of his terrible driving, as she thought he drove too fast. Still, when he saw her on campus thereafter, he would always say hello to her anytime their paths crossed. Then financial issues forced Chuck to leave college prior to completing his degree. Fortuitously, he would return before Elena Zuzzolo would graduate.
In search of work to fund his education, young Chuck ended up at Letchworth Village in Thiells, NY, where he worked with special needs students. He ran the bowling alley and had to set up the pins manually. “There were no automatic pin setting machines in those days” as he would retell the story numerous times throughout the years. In addition, he found work as a life guard at Bear Mountain State Park. If you were ever in a car anywhere near Bear Mountain, he would never miss an opportunity to tell you about his time there. Still low on funds and needing a place to stay, a friend set him up with a cot in the Band Barracks at West Point.
It was at Letchworth Village Chuck met the Reverend Carl Rote and his wife Phyllis. Carl was an animated and humorous man, always telling jokes. The wisecracking Carl saw something in the young Chuck Sipple and they all became lifelong friends. Carl and Phyllis essentially adopted him and became his surrogate parents for the rest of their lives.
Charlie enrolled at Fairleigh Dickinson University trying to complete his education while working. The commute was not a viable solution though. He saved his money and went back to Cortland. He got a job in a drug store near the Cortland State campus. It was 1960 and Elena Zuzzolo was now a junior when she happened to walk in the very drug store that Chuck was working. She wanted to cash a check to buy some blackberry wine at another store. They had exchanged pleasantries, but Elena thought that Charlie might still be with his previous girlfriend and stayed a respectful distance. That was until he took a Theater Group class he thought would just be an easy course. The professor asked Elena to see if she could convince Chuck to help with the sets and lighting. He would go on to claim this was just her way of chasing him. When she asked if he knew anything about lighting, he said yes despite not having a clue what he was to doing. He also had one condition, that she would have to help him. She agreed and this was the beginning of their 54 year relationship.
The play was The Importance of Being Earnest and Elena had a scene where she wore a dress that revealed her legs more than Chuck had ever seen before. That was the moment he knew he wanted to get to know the girl with the “great legs” better. Always the gentleman, he would offer to drive her home because he did not want Ellie to walk alone at night. This led to long discussions and she finally learned that he was no longer with the girlfriend from the past. The romance then blossomed and it would not be long before it was time to meet her family.
Being a rural kid from Gowanda, he had no idea of what a traditional Italian meal consisted. Mount Vernon, NY, seemed like a metropolis to the country boy, so when he ventured into the house, he wanted to impress Elena’s family. Out came the pasta and Charlie Sipple did not disappoint. He began eating to a chorus of “mangia, mangia.” What Charlie did not know is that this was only the first round and the remaining seven plates would all be filled with fish, veal, and more. With each round came the wine but somehow the farm guy made it through, much to the approval of his future In-laws.
They were married at the Community Church at the Circle in Mount Vernon by none other than the Reverend Carl Rote. Money was still tight and the honeymoon was modest. They stayed at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel on Central Park and saw several Broadway shows. Most notable was Camelot starring Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet.
Charlie graduated Cortland in January of 1961 and Elena did the same in the spring. He then received the next fortuitous break in his education, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. So the young couple headed out in her 1959 Chevy Impala Convertible where they had expected to move into the married housing on campus. Somehow they were too late and would have to find housing someplace else. With a limited budget, a nice farmer named Mr. Chitwood offered for them to live in a trailer he and his wife had on their property. This left a whopping $5 per week for food, and Elena made the best of it. Usually cans of tuna were all they could afford. Ellie learned early to never let Charlie do the shopping though when he came back with marshmallows, potato chips, and other assorted junk food.
It was while they were living in the trailer on the Chitwood’s farm, they welcomed their first new arrival. It was a bouncing baby… poodle named Mark and thus began the string of pets that would define Charlie Sipple for the rest of his life as one of the greatest friend to animals there ever was. Shortly after that, their real baby came along. Scott Charles Sipple was born three days prior to Charlie’s 24th birthday. Ellie found a job teaching third grade at Elm Heights Elementary School and this would be their main income while Charlie obtained his Master’s Degree and worked toward an EDD (Educational Doctorate Degree). As he neared completion, Indiana University allowed him to interview with the business school candidates. Instead of teaching, he landed two job offers. One was with the Pepsi Cola Company and other with Seagram’s. For a young couple with one child already and another on the way, the $125/month extra that Seagram’s offered was all it took. Over the next 52 years this would be his industry and he would lead several companies throughout his tenure.
With a brief stop in Louisville, KY, for training, their second child Gregory Todd Sipple was born just days before Charlie would have to report to his new job in New York. Ellie flew to New York with Greg, only a few days old, and Charlie decided to drive 14 hours straight to New York with then toddler Scott and their dog Coco. She was another poodle after they lost Mark when he was hit by a car in Indiana. Charlie would go on to say the drive was one of the biggest judgment errors of his life. By the time Charlie, Scott and Coco arrived at his mother-in-law Ida’s one bedroom apartment, none of them ever enjoyed long car rides again.
By the time the family arrived at their Davenport Avenue apartment in New Rochelle, NY, they had already moved three times. Little could anyone have predicted there would be twelve more moves in their future. The next one happened a year later when they moved into Mohegan Village in Tuckahoe, NY. This is where they would meet their lifetime best friends, Hank and Cynthia Smither. Hank and Charlie rode in a carpool together which was the catalyst for their relationship. The Smither’s would ultimately bring the best out of Charlie and create memories that have grown to legendary status in both households.
Next up was Henrietta, NY, near Rochester where Scott would enter kindergarten. They only had one car at the time and the kindness of their next door neighbors would never be forgotten. Carl and Dori Sydlowski would graciously lend Ellie their car whenever Charlie was away for business to run errands and take children to the doctor. They were also there to support the young mother of two, who was scared to be alone in a big house for the first time in her life. Carl set up spot lights on the corners of the house and installed an intercom system between the two homes, so she would always have someone to talk to. There were others in the neighborhood that also remained friends throughout their life - the Taylor’s, McNitt’s, Tarr’s and others.
In 1969 and now living in Florham Park, New Jersey, Charlie left Seagram’s where he was making $13,000 per year. When Kobrand Corporation (then distributors of Beefeater Gin) offered him $22,000 per year, it was off to California. The Sipple’s arrived in Thousand Oaks, CA, in January of 1970 just prior to Charlie’s 32nd birthday. A fateful event soon followed when Charlie walked into a Pioneer Chicken franchise and found his old friend Hank Smither running the restaurant. When an opportunity for Hank to come onboard with Kobrand arose, everything fell into place. The Smither’s and their three boys Hank Jr, Michael and Christopher would come to swim at “Uncle” Charlie’s house and in turn the Sipple’s would visit them in Pasadena frequently. Eventually, the two families would plan vacations together. First it was to San Clemente, CA, for time at the beach and then later became the monumental houseboat vacations on Lake Shasta.
Before the houseboat vacations could start, there was another move for the Sipple’s. Charlie had been promoted to assist the President of Kobrand back in New York. It was the summer of 1973 and this is where Charlie would forge a strong relationship with the owners of Beefeater Gin, Mr. Alan Burrough and his wife Rosemary. It was all going so well for Charlie until December 3rd, 1973, when Ellie and her mother Ida, whom he called “Mom,” where involved in a head on collision. This was the one time he would be shaken to his core as both had received serious injuries that would stay with them the rest of their lives.
Two years after arriving back in New York, another promotion came Charlie’s way and it was back to California. He would get involved with many celebrity events like the Bob Hope Desert Classic Golf Tournament where he would meet Bob Hope himself on numerous occasions along with others like Jack Lemmon, Jonny Bench, President Gerald Ford and many more. Also in California with Hank and Cynthia Smither again, they decided to rent a houseboat on Lake Shasta for a summer vacation. While Charlie loved boats, they didn’t always love him back. Just like that load of lumber so many years before, Charlie just had to do it his way. Pulling into or out of any port became an adventure as the dingy would get crushed along the dock or he’d jump off the boat only to sink into waste deep mud. All of these events made for a lot of laughs and would ultimately be the highlights of the trips that have never been forgotten. What would Charlie do next, made for great entertainment.
The most famous incident of all started with Michael Smither and a peanut butter sandwich. When all the peanut butter failed to reach Michael’s mouth and hit the chair instead, Charlie Sipple sprang into action. Not satisfied with the simple fix of wiping the mess with a paper towel, Charlie insisted on rinsing the chair off in the water. He was the undisputed “King of Overkill.” The only problem with his plan was the boat was still moving. In a flash Charlie disappeared over the side with the chair, “man overboard port side.” Ellie feared the worst, however the former life guard quickly emerged from Davey Jones locker. It was just in time to hear Hank, who stayed calm in his chair with his feet up on the back of the boat, yell “Charlie, if you wanted to go swimming we would have stopped the boat.” The Sipple’s and Smither’s made trips in the summers of ’75, ’76, and ’77 before promotion would once again separated them.
Charlie would be named President of Kobrand before his 40th birthday. These were the high school years for Scott and Greg. Charlie had a photography hobby and he became a fixture at every Byram Hills High School Football, Basketball and Lacrosse game he could. He also became the President of the Booster Club. Whether he was taking pictures or not, he was always there with a handshake and a “good game” regardless of how things actually went on the field or court. On occasion the Sipple’s would host a party at their Armonk, NY, house. Even though there would be just enough beer to make it “cool” there was always more food than anything else and that kept anyone from getting out of line. Charlie and Ellie would bring pizzas and calzones from the Bronx, the big New York City Pretzels and much more. No one ever went hungry around Charlie Sipple.
Charlie prided himself on having provided well for his family. He never wanted his children to have to worry about paying for college as he did. So his goal was get his children in to the best schools and allow them to focus on studying, not bills. Even when Scott went to Dartmouth and Greg to Middlebury, two of the most expensive schools in the country, he never wavered. He always said as long as they can help, they will.
It was the early 80’s when conflict arose with the Chairman of the Board at Kobrand, and it lead to Charlie’s departure and a one year non-compete clause. During that year Charlie eyed several opportunities. He thought of buying a shopping center in Stratton Mountain, Vermont, and at one point he had been selected by the President of Revlon to replace him, however all the deals fell through for one reason or another. After the one year passed, he came back to the industry with Renfield Corporation, whose brands were Gordon’s Gin, Tanqueray, Martini & Rossi, and more. With Scott and Greg in college, it was Charlie and Ellie’s time to travel on business and pleasure. These were wonderful years of travel and doing the sorts of thing one only gets to do later in life. When foreign business partners came to New York City in those days they all wanted to see Cats on Broadway. Somehow he managed to sit through a dozen or more performances.
This was also the period when Charlie satisfied his one indulgence in life. It wasn’t a mid-life crisis fast car or anything like that at all. At the behest of his family, he bought a modest used boat. He had dreams of ruling the high seas… or at least the Long Island Sound. He cleaned it up and occasionally took it out for a spin which inevitably lead to more legendary stories. On his first trip, he crushed the swim platform attempting to back into the slip. He then came up with more novel approaches to docking. One such approach was to aim for the dock, cut the motor and jump to the pier before the boat crashed. While this method worked with varying degrees of success, there was one epic failure in front of an entire restaurant at the Cos Cobb Marina. The dock was livelier there and when he made his dismount from the boat, the dock acted more like a diving board. Looking like Greg Louganis, he made a perfect water entry in front of the bewildered lunch crowd, giving them a treat that only the Sipple’s and Smither’s had known before.
Renfield was sold in the mid-80’s and Charlie briefly had a stint as President of Cluny Scotch which brought Ellie and him back to California. This time they moved to La Cañada where Hank and Cynthia Smither lived. Unfortunately, this only lasted a year until Charlie became the President of Jim Beam International and they moved to Barrington Hills, Illinois. Once again he was traveling the world. He had friends Jack Blaisdale and Bob Wisenberger to pal around with there. After a few years, his friend Frank Cassari at Glenmore Distilleries called Charlie with yet another position. Glenmore would also be sold and Charlie decided to start his own company with Bob Wisenberger, they called it Charbo. They represented a number of brands including one growing brand named Jägermeister.
On November 1st, 1989 Charlie and Ellie welcomed their first of six grandchildren. The next Charles Edmund Sipple was the son of Greg and Marianne. Later that same month the Sipple’s and Smither’s got together for Thanksgiving in Lake Arrowhead, California. With all the Smither’s in California as well as Scott and his wife Susan living Orange County and Greg and Marianne living in San Diego, Lake Arrowhead would be the meeting place for the Sipple’s and Smither’s over the next several years. As with the houseboat vacations on Lake Shasta, Charlie did not disappoint with his share of entertainment. The “King of Overkill” was back in action. There would be the dishwasher incident where he put regular dish soap into the machine, only to find the kitchen chest deep in suds a few hours later. He slung a box with the pre-cooked turkey over his shoulder despite being clearly marked “This End Up” covering himself is turkey grease. Next he backed off a steep driveway in a place that only a professional tow truck could pull the vehicle back onto the driveway. When the tow truck showed up he tried to blame the incident on his wife and got busted. Then there was the luggage rack mishap which was a rare time he didn’t follow the overkill principle. It must have been a flash back to that load of lumber when the net result was suitcases flying across the road. Again, this was part of the experiences that we all cherish to this day.
Charlie and Ellie were still in Barrington Hills when an opportunity with Sazerac from New Orleans came from his long relationship with the owner Mr. Bill Goldring. Before Charlie would leave Sazerac, Bill would ask him to step in as President. Despite being based in New Orleans, Charlie and Ellie stayed in Barrington Hills and it would be the longest place they had ever stayed put, nearly 17 years. He stayed there until one day when one of the legendary men in the industry called Bill Goldring and asked if he could approach Charlie about coming onboard with his company, Sidney Frank Importers Corporation.
Sidney was larger than life. Charlie always enjoyed that about him and the company he created. His friend Lee Einsidler ran things for Sidney and that suited Charlie, too. When Charlie visited Sidney at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, Sidney insisted on driving Charlie to breakfast. It turned out to be more like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. When Charlie told Lee about the experience, he got the first lesson at the Sidney Frank Company, “never let Sidney drive.” He had a great deal of respect for both Sidney and Lee and while Jägermeister continued to grow, Charlie was there when Sidney had an idea to make a vodka brand in France. It was drawn out on a placemat and they would make it the most expensive vodka in the market. He called the new brand Grey Goose.
Charlie stayed with Sidney Frank Importer and developed the reputation for being the gentle wise sage, mentoring men and women alike on how to avoid the pitfalls the industry was prone to. Although the industry was all about having a good time, Charlie never really drank. He tasted the products and would put them down after a sip or two. At one point when his whole division consisted of women, the team became known as “Charlie’s Angels” and numerous pictures were taken at the national sales meetings with the familiar gun wielding pose. At the most recent meeting in March of this year, a new tequila brand Casamigos was being introduced. One of the partners in the brand is actor George Clooney, who attended the meeting and sat right next to Charlie. George kidded with Charlie and kissed his head at one point saying “he loved this head” all to the roars of laughter. Charlie always enjoyed making people laugh and that is how he will always be remembered.
He was a kind soul and a loyal friend who stayed with people regardless of their difficulties. He would help people in need and leave them with their dignity. He never sought out the accolades for doing the right thing he just did because it was his nature to help. If you worked hard and hit a rough patch in life, Charlie would always be there to assist whenever he could. He visited friends in hospitals when their own relatives had forgotten them. If your family was sick or you might lose your house due to a few tough breaks, Charlie would offer to pay the bills. We may never know the full extent of his charity to his fellow man and that was just fine with him. No one was faster at picking up a check and many times people never knew who paid their bill. He never invested loads of money for himself to enjoy the fruits of his labor - he invested in people.
We do know about his charity and love for animals. He took in everyone’s castaway pet and turned his house in to dog and cat palace. To be an animal in the care of Charlie Sipple was the pet world equivalent to hitting the lottery. You would have ramps built, doors modified, more food, treats, water and toys than you could ever imagine. It would be the love that he bestowed on these creatures that will be another of his great legacies.
In his lifetime Charles Edmund Sipple would undergo tremendous loss and endure hardship. He held many titles in his life, although the ones he prided himself on most were Husband, Father, Brother, Uncle, Grandfather and Friend. He would meet the love of his life and remain faithful and deeply devoted to her for eternity. He opened his house and his heart to care for his mother-in-law for nearly twenty years. She never had to worry about a single bill from that day forward. He worked for everything he ever owned and gave of himself completely. In the process he would send one son to prominence and success in business, the other to defend the principles that he cherished about the greatest country on Earth. He was Red, White and Blue to the core. He was a patriot and the personification of the American Dream. His legacy lives in his children Scott and Greg, their wives Susan and Marianne, and his six grandchildren Charles III, Taylor, Kimberly, Kelsey, Stephanie and Lindsay.
Not bad for a country kid from Gowanda, NY.
Here’s to a life well lived.
Go with God Charlie… you have earned it.