Dr. Charles Morgan Sayre, DDS, 97, died peacefully on Aug. 4, 2020. The son of Florence and Dr. Loren Sayre, DDS, of Oak Park, he graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School where he lettered in football, tennis and track and was proud to be an Eagle Scout. He attended Northwestern University and the Northwestern University Dental School where he met the love of his life, Ruth Ella Evans, on the steps of the Tech Building where they shared a chemistry class. They married after graduation and their honeymoon was a train trip to Officer Training School with the U.S. Army in San Antonio, Texas.
After his service as a captain during World War II, the young couple settled in Oak Park in a house across the street from his boyhood home. Their five children soon filled that home. They then moved to River Forest and lived in the same home for over 50 years when he lost Ruth after 55 years of marriage.
He treasured his family time and he thrived on helping others and volunteered with many community organizations. He dedicated much of his business life to dentistry in both his Chicago office in the Marshall Field Annex for over 50 years and as a professor at the Loyola University School of Dentistry. He said he never worked a day in his life, just spent the days in the dental office with his good friends every day. Many of his patients included some of the most prominent names in Chicago and leaders of national corporations. He was honored to have many of them as patients for over 40 years.
While the children were growing, the family spent most weekends on their boat, Karylonda, on Lake Michigan almost always entertaining family friends. After joining the River Forest Tennis Club in the 1960s, he showed a very competitive spirit and could usually be found there every day after office hours. He played tennis well into his late 80s and was a founding member of the Tennis and Fitness Centre in Oak Park. He was an avid SCUBA diver and an accomplished water skier and was a member of the Oak Park Club and the Oak Park Country Club.
First Presbyterian Church of Oak Park and then First Presbyterian Church of River Forest played major roles in his life as a deacon and elder for many years. As the years passed and the family grew, his family shared time together in Lake Geneva during the summer and Ft. Lauderdale and Stuart, Florida in the winters.
Chuck Sayre was the father of Ronda (Steve) Satkamp and their children, Shannan (Steve) Bishop, Amy (Keg) Avakian, the late Katie Suzanne Satkamp, Mandy Wichman and Lissa (Adam) Blake; Cheryl (Walter) Collins and their children, Carrie (Chad) Cooper, Abbie (Vic) Zulim, and Cray Buresh; the late Marla Roxanne Sayre; Harlan Sayre and his children, Zachary and Matthew Sayre; and Kimm (Judy) Sayre and their children, Meredith, Mallorie and Morgan Sayre; 14 great-grandchildren, Ellie, Chloe and Madison Bishop, KJ, Michael and Suzy Avakian, Charlie and Jack Wichman, Lucie and Emerson Blake, Cailyn and Caycee Cooper, and Joey and Connor Zulim. He was predeceased by Ruth Ella Evans Sayre, his wife of 55 years; his daughter, Marla Roxanne Sayre; his granddaughter Katie Suzanne Satkamp; his sister, Lois Mildred Sayre Rainer; and his brother, Loren Don Sayre.
He will rest at Mount Emblem Cemetery in Elmhurst alongside his wife.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, memorials in his name may be made to his favorite nonprofit charity, Safety Village of Hinsdale, 6230 Cove Creek Court, Burr Ridge, IL 60527, in which he was deeply involved for over 35 years with his whole family.
Arrangements were handled by Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home.
