Pardee, Charles Albert, 1886-1983.

Electrical engineer graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1913, went to Chicago to work as an engineer in the firm of Miller and Pardee and in 1944 was employed by Montgomery Ward's when that company was taken over by the government for refusal to deal with the union, and he was the son of Walter Stone Pardee the engineer and architect who oversaw the building of the Minnesota State Capitol. While going to school, he spent his summers working as an engineer in Chicago, for the city, on streets, street cars and other jobs. He was married to Virginia Bond of Minneapolis in 1914 and they had one son, Walter, and adopted a daughter, Patricia. Virginia also had three stillbirths. Charles also had a sister, Esther, who married Thomas Topp, a doctor, and they lived together in California where she taught school.

One of his first assignments with Miller and Pardee was to design and oversee the building of a crematorium. He also worked on an engine for Duesenberg, while there. The firm had some financial and legal problems as well as a dispute with Charles over a patent and he left the firm in 1925. His relationship with his brother was not good after this. He and another engineer tried to start a business, had periods of unemployment, worked as a salesman and suffered financial difficulties. He started at Ward's in 1931 and worked their until 1951. In 1981 Virginia died and two years later Charles died.