Our colleague and Board member, Charles Spillar, passed away last week as a result of health problems over the past seven months. Charlie was the driving force behind the public relations effort to make people aware of the benefits of HBOT to treat veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD. In this role he supported NorthStar Hyperbaric and was instrumental in bringing this public awareness to Healing Arizona Veterans when it was founded two years ago.
Charlie was an individual who was always willing to try different things: commercial crawfish fisherman, oil field rough neck, highway construction worker, Fuller brush salesman, insurance salesman, curb number painter, house painter, assistant buyer for IBM, state securities agent, investment fund-raiser, financial lease consultant, sales in finance, manufacturer’s representative, emergency medical supplies, boating accessories, motion picture and TV screen writer, lighting technician, chocolate chip ice cream salesman, film and TV production, fish processing vessel, and food brokerage.
He joined the National Guard early in his life and worked for G-2 intelligence. His work experience took place before and after he gained his Economics and Finance degree from the University of Oklahoma.
However, he was always passionate about art, having had his first exhibit while in 7th grade. He came back to art after trying out all the other work experiences. His art blossomed. He was represented by over eight galleries in CA, HI, UT, MI and was exhibited in 150 shows in the US, Europe and Australia, resulting in sales of over 3300 pieces of original art. During this period, he also wrote over 1000 articles published on-line and in print.
His volunteering activities included Cactus Drive-In theater, and over the past few years, Healing Arizona Veterans where his passion for helping veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD made a big difference to the organization.
All his colleagues at Healing Arizona Veterans will miss his passion for this cause.
