Obituary of Charles McDonald Puckette IV

Charles McDonald “Don” Puckette, IV of Glenville, NY died peacefully on January 21, 2022 surrounded by his family. He was born on February 24, 1938 in Ridgewood, NJ, the son of Charles McDonald Puckette Jr. and Lois Raff Puckette. Don was active in boy scouting for a number of years where he achieved the distinguished rank of Eagle Scout. He was also a charter member of the Ridgewood Rifle club where he competed in small bore target shooting during Jr and Sr High.

A graduate of Ridgewood High School and Lafayette College, Don spent the first two years following college graduation marrying his high school sweetheart Gail Benson, working at RCA in Moorestown, NJ, and completing his master's in Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. Don first met Gail by her asking him to a Sade Hawkins dance in 10th grade; after marrying in 1960 they celebrated their 61st anniversary last June. Following Don’s graduation from Penn, he fulfilled his ROTC commitment by serving in the US Army as a Second Lieutenant and Captain at the US Army Ordnance School in Aberdeen, MD. Upon completion of active duty, he joined General Electric Heavy Military in Syracuse, NY in February 1963 where he designed radar and sonar receivers. Don furthered his graduate education by taking GE’s 3 year Advanced Engineering Program.

Following graduation from the ABC program, he transferred to the General Electric Research and Development Center in Niskayuna, NY in 1967. While at the R&D Center, he worked in a number of areas such as satellite communications, land mobile radio, Computer Aided Tomography, and Ultrasonic Imaging. He was named Manager, Communication Technology in 1979 and was further named Manager, Communications Program in 1983. He retired from GE on July 1, 2000 after 37 years of service with 37 patents, 16 journal publications, and 19 conference papers. He was a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of NY. Since retiring, he pursued various hobbies such as traveling, visiting his 8 grandchildren, skiing, canoe camping in the Adirondacks, golf, fishing, hunting, and tennis. He spent summers at the family vacation home on Lake George where the highlight was to have his children and grandchildren visit for water skiing, hiking, camping, and fun.

Don was a member of the Burnt Hills United Methodist Church, a senior member of the IEEE, the GE ELFUN society, the Mohawk Golf Club, the Glenville Fish and Game Club where he served as President for a number of years, and the Glenville Senior Center where he served on the Executive Committee. He is survived by his wife Gail Benson Puckette; his son Richard Charles Puckette and daughter-in-law Debora Toffey Puckette, his son David Benson Puckette, his daughter Debra Puckette Macaleer, and his eight grandchildren Thomas Charles Puckette and wife Dana, Jefferson Toffey Puckette and wife Heather, James Gettys Puckette, Julianne Needles Puckette, Nathan Andrew Puckette, Ian David Puckette, Miles Ellis Macaleer, and Mallory Reese Macaleer.

Relatives and Friends will be received Friday (Jan. 28) from 4 - 6 p.m., at the Glenville Funeral Home, 9 Glenridge Rd. East Glenville. Services will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m., at Burnt Hills United Methodist Church, 816 Saratoga Rd. (Rte 50). Funeral services will be broadcasted live on Glenville Funeral Home's Facebook page, please click the following link at 10 AM on January 29th to watch virtually: https://www.facebook.com/GlenvilleFuneralHome 

A private entombment with military honors will be held at Memory Gardens.

Memorial contributions in Don’s name may be sent to the American Cancer Society or the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, MA. Online condolences may be expressed at Glenvillefuneralhome.com.