Charles McCullough Vandiver died peacefully Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at the age of 93 Charles Vandiver was born on June 17, 1921, the youngest of five children and grew up in the small town of Bald Knob, Arkansas. He spent his days as a young boy helping his father in the family blacksmith shop or working in the local grocery store. After graduating from Bald Knob High School, he attended one year at Ouachita College and then hitch hiked west to attend Oklahoma Baptist University. There, he worked in the university print shop, became a charter member of the OBU Glee Club and earned his pilot's license. In Oklahoma, Charles met his wife Esta and they married in 1943. Heeding the call to duty during World War II, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps, served as a light bombardment flight instructor and as a staff pilot in the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command. After active duty, Lieutenant Vandiver served in the Air Force Reserves until his honorable discharge in 1955. In 1951, Lieutenant Vandiver received his Doctorate of Dental Surgery from Baylor University College of Dentistry. Dr. Vandiver taught at the College of Dentistry for two years while practicing dentistry in Dallas. Longing for the life style of a small town, the Vandiver family moved to Dimmitt and Dr. Vandiver opened his dental practice in 1955. Known as the "singing dentist", he kept his office filled with music, including his own, during his sixty year career. His passion for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ was exemplified through his serving in the choir and as a deacon at the First Baptist Church, traveling on seventeen medical missionary trips to various foreign countries, and a serving a two-term trusteeship on the Wayland Baptist University Board of Trustees. His community involvement included serving as a Castro County Commissioner and a member of the Rotary Club. He enjoyed the outdoors: quail hunting, fishing and snow skiing. He is preceded in death by his parents Mary Ellen McCullough and Charles Alvin Vandiver, and his loving wife of fifty-seven years, Esta Barksdale Vandiver. He is survived by his two children Craig Vandiver of Pecos, TX, Loren Vandiver and his wife Connally and grandson Wade of Houston, TX. Surviving nieces and nephews include Joe Vandiver of Benton, AK; Elaine McWain of Georgetown, CO; Michael Smith of Colorado Springs, CO; Lura Gorman of Wellington, FL and Anne Chaney of Huntersville, NC.