Charles O. Sylling of Camano Island, WA passed away on Thursday, November 30, 2023, at the age of 74.

Charlie was born to Alfred Sylling and Shirley Christianson in the small Norwegian Lutheran community of Spring Grove, MN on May 9, 1949. Three weeks after graduation from Spring Grove High School in 1967, he entered the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, graduating on June 9, 1971, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a commission as a Second Lieutenant. He graduated first in his class in pilot training in July 1972, allowing him to fulfill his dream of flying fighters, and graduated from the Air Force Fighter Weapons School in 1978.

In 1988, Charlie and his family were transferred to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan where Charlie took command of the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Under his leadership, in 1989 the 67th TFS was awarded the Hughes Trophy which recognizes the top Fighter Squadron in the Air Force. In 1992, Charlie earned a Master's degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College and was recognized as the top Air Force graduate in the class. His final assignment was to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon where he served until his retirement in 1995 at the rank of Colonel. Charlie's Air Force career spanned 24 years, just under 3,000 total flying hours in F-4 and F-15 fighters, and a total of 8 assignments in the United States, Germany, Japan, and Korea. He went by the callsign "Shark" and he was described by a reporter who rode in his back seat as a "steely-eyed fighter of the skies."

After retiring from the Air Force, Charlie worked for 16 years as a program manager for defense contractor SAIC in Virginia and Colorado before fully retiring in 2011. In 2015, Charlie founded the non-profit Spring Grove Area Veterans Memorial Group, LLC and together with the board members and the community built a memorial to the veterans of his hometown, dedicating it on June 24, 2017. The memorial features more than 1,080 names of veterans from the Civil War through the Global War on Terror.

Charlie met Candyce Van Valkenburg of Mount Vernon, WA, on a blind date on his 21st birthday, and they married on May 20, 1973. Together through more than 50 years of marriage, they had many "great adventures," moving 14 times while living in Germany, Korea, and Japan, and throughout the United States. Charlie and Candyce took time to travel and explore each of the places where they served, and together raised two wonderful children. In 2013, Charlie and Candyce built their dream home on Camano Island, WA, near Candyce's hometown. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2023 with a cruise to Alaska.

Charlie's passions in life were flying, fishing, skiing, gardening, making lefse at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and singing in Lutheran choirs. He often said he never got to do enough of any of them. He was an avid fisherman in trout streams in Colorado and around Spring Grove and stalked for walleyes in the lakes of Ontario, Canada over many decades. He learned to sail in Newport, RI and loved tacking in wind on the Potomac River. He sang in the choirs of Trinity Lutheran Church in Spring Grove, MN, the Air Force Academy, and finally in his and Candyce's local church, Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Stanwood, WA. He asked that a glass of single malt scotch be raised in his memory.

Charlie is survived by his wife Candyce and their two children, Emily Sylling (Rhys Williams) of Bend, OR and Andrew Sylling (Lauren) of Trumbull, CT, and three grandchildren, Sasha, Caroline, and Samantha as well as many beloved friends and extended family members.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 6, 2024, at 2pm at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Stanwood, WA. If you'd like to make a memorial donation in Charlie's name, please direct donations to the Spring Grove Area Veterans Memorial, LLC at https://www.springgroveveteransmemorial.org/ .