Posted on 10/03/2019
Charles Joseph Wiseman III (Oct. 30, 1942 - April 21, 2019)
Charles Joseph Wiseman, III, passed away in April 2019 at the age of 76.
He was born in Tillamook, Ore., in October 1942.
Charles Wiseman was a well-respected trial attorney throughout Oregon. After a year at the Naval Academy, he earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Lewis & Clark College in 1970 and went on to earn his J.D. from the Lewis & Clark Law School in 1973.
Mr. Wiseman joined the Portland Police Department in 1965 and worked in the Crime Lab until 1967. He then became a patrol officer for the Department where he served until 1970.
In 1971, he became an investigator for the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office and worked in that capacity until he became a trial attorney for that Office from 1973-76. He joined the Lane County District Attorney's Office as a trial attorney, a position he held from 1976 to 1977.
In 1977, he went into practice for himself as criminal defense attorney and ran his own Law Firm for 42 years. He was a licensed attorney in both Oregon and Washington. Charles was known for his quick wit, his honesty and his compassionate spirit.
He also served several years as a pro-tem judge throughout the state and was well respected for his outstanding service in that capacity.
Additionally, in his youth Mr. Wiseman was an all-star baseball player who played Little League and in 1956 led his Garibaldi team to The Tillamook County Championship. He also starred in baseball at Neah-Kah-Nie High School, in the American Legion League, and played college ball at Lewis & Clark. He was a lifelong student of the game and an avid Seattle Mariners fan. He also played high school football and in 1960 caught four touchdown passes in one game in the wind and snow at Hood River. He was an ardent fan of the Seattle Seahawks as well as of all Northwest high school and university sports.
Charles was also a general aviation pilot who owned a series of Comanche airplanes and was elected Chief of the International Comanche Society's Northwest Tribe from 1990-1998. As a younger man, he loved fishing, scuba diving, canoeing, golf, skiing and camping.
As a boy, from 1953-1955 Charles and his brother ran the paper routes for Garibaldi where the boys delivered both the early morning Oregonian and the afternoon Journal to more than a thousand homes. The boys also earned spending money by peeling cascara bark, making and selling root beer and recycling cans and bottles.
In the summers of the early 1950s, Charles and his brother often hitchhiked from Garibaldi to Portland to watch their beloved Portland Beavers baseball team play.
Charles was preceded in death by his mother, Lucille; his father, Charles, Jr.; and his brother, Robert. He is survived by his brother, Thomas; and his two nephews, Eric Wiseman and Kyle Wiseman.
Please sign the online guest book at www.oregonlive.com/obits
Published in The Oregonian from Oct. 3 to Oct. 6, 2019