Funeral services for Charles M. Van Cleve, Richland County Superintendent of Schools, were held Tuesday afternoon at the Schaub Funeral Home with Rev. J. B. Farrell, assisted by Rev. Walter Smith, officiating. Mr. Van Cleve was found dead from a bullet wound in his right temple last Friday afternoon, October 7, 1949, at his home, 420 W. Chestnut street. He had been despondent over a painful illness which did not respond to treatment and was slowly causing loss of his sight.

Graduating from Olney high school, where, despite his small size, he participated in every sport offered, he returned to Olney to teach and coach after going to college. His classes in civics, economics and history were bright spots in the high school curriculum and were made unusually interesting by his broad knowledge of political and civic affairs, his practical application of this to the subjects he taught, and a sense of humor as explosive and unpredictable as it was keen.

At the time of his retirement from active coaching in the late thirties he was the dean of high school athletic coaches in Illnois. Elected County Superintendent of Schools in 1942, he was re-elected in 1946 and was serving his second term at the time of his death.  He was active in many civic affairs.

Survived by his wife, Lottie, two daughters, Mrs. Paul Abegglen of Olney and Mrs. Elizabeth Scott of Vincennes; two sons, Vincent and Gilbert of Olney; two sisters, Mrs. Grace Murray of Olney and Mrs. Rose Zimmerman of Gillespie; and two brothers, Gilbert H. Van Cleve of Chicago and the Rev. Samuel Van Cleve of Kansas. Burial was in Haven Hill cemetery.

Published in the Olney Advocate ~ Thursday, October 13, 1949