Dr. Charles Haseltine

Dr. Charles P. “Tip” Haseltine, 101, died early Friday, November 27, 2015, at his home in Long Beach, California. He was a long time resident of Redlands, California from 1954 to 2003.

He was born on February 28, 1914, and raised in the small mid-western town of Ripon, Wisconsin (population 7,700) and was the 2nd of 3 children born to Col. William E. Haseltine and Florence R. Haseltine. Dr. Haseltine attended school in Ripon until his graduation in 1932 and was the captain of his track team in High School. He attended Harvard College for the next four years graduating in 1936 with Harvard’s 300th (tercentennial) anniversary class, with a Bachelor of Science degree. He followed that with four more years at Harvard Medical School graduating with an M.D. in 1940. He then went on to the Illinois Research and Teaching Hospital in Chicago for an 8 month period ending with the outbreak of WWII in December of 1941. Dr. Haseltine then joined the U.S. Navy where he served during the war period as a Navy Surgeon in the Pacific Theater of operations on the battleship U.S.S. Tennessee (BB-43) as a Lt. Commander from 1942 – 1944. Then from 1944 – 1946 he served as a Flight Surgeon with the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater ending up with 7 months with the China Marines on the mainland of China.

Soon after the war ended, he served 6 months as a ship’s surgeon on the SS Brazil cruise ship from NY to Rio de Janeiro, while awaiting further medical training. From 1946 to 1952, he completed his Residency in General Surgery and Ophthalmology in Chicago, Ill. In 1952 he returned to Wisconsin to start his medical practice in Oshkosh, WI. In 1952, he married Jane Brooks of Green Lake, WI and soon after moved his practice to Redlands California in 1954, where he became the 9th doctor to join the Beaver Medical Clinic, where he served the community until a tragic incident in 1977. During the summer of 1977, while visiting his daughter and son-in-law in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he was the shooting victim of a sniper rampage while he was rescuing a young boy that had been shot, which severely disabled his right arm and quickly ended his surgical career. A year later 1978, he was awarded the national Carnegie Hero award for bravery and self-sacrifice to others.

Upon his retirement, he continued to research his interests from oriental arts, traveling, to snakes and sharks. He was also a long time member of the Redlands Fortnightly Club. After the passing of his wife, after a long illness, he moved to live with his son, daughter-in-law and their two children in Long Beach, CA, until his death at home surrounded by family.

He is survived by his three children, Mary Haseltine Harder of Weston, MA; Margaret “Miki” Kelsick-Haseltine of Coeur D’Alene, ID; and Richard B. Haseltine of Long Beach, CA; and 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at the Redlands First Congregational Church on Saturday, December 12 at 4:00 P.M., which will be followed by a graveside service in his hometown of Ripon, WI, later in the month with immediate family members. He is much loved and will be greatly missed.

A private funeral service will be held at his home on Watson Street in Ripon on Tuesday, December 29, 2015. A graveside service for the public will be held on Tuesday, December 29, 2015, at 1:00 pm at Hillside Cemetery in Ripon with Full Military Honors. Following the graveside service, everyone is invited to the First Congregational Church, Fellowship Hall, 220 Ransom St., Ripon, WI 54971 for a time of fellowship. He is much loved and will be greatly missed.


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