Charles Theodore Sehe

Charles T. Sehe, age 101, of Mankato passed away on Sunday, November 3, 2024, at his home in Mankato, Minnesota.

Memorial Mass will be held at 11am Thursday, November 7, 2024, at Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Mankato with visitation one hour prior. Military Honors and burial at Calvary Cemetery immediately following. Lunch will follow burial at Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit Hall.

Charles was born February 26,1923 to William and Frances (Burzyck) Sehe in Geneva, IL. He graduated from Geneva High School in June 1940, and six months later (November 28, 1940) enlisted in the U.S. Navy at Great Lakes Naval Recruit Station, North Chicago. IL. He served on the battleship USS Nevada (BB36) from 1940-1946 as SFC 3/c.

On December 7, 1941, Charles witnessed the nearby explosion aboard the ill-fated Arizona and the capsizing of its sister ship, the Oklahoma, on Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor. Charles remained assigned to the USS Nevada (BB36), which was repaired and fitted with modernized weaponry and radar facilities. He participated in numerous gunfire support sorties for the invasions of Attu and Kiska (Aleutian Islands) in 1943, Normandy (Utah Beach, June 6, 1944) and Southern France (August 15,1944); in North Atlantic Convoy Patrols and shelling of Japanese positions on Jaluit Atoll (Pacific Ocean), the Iwo Jima invasion (February 16, 1945), Okinawa invasion (April 9, 1945).

On his 23rd birthday, February 26, 1946, Charles was honorably discharged from the US Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in IL. Using the newly enacted G.I. Bill of Rights, Charles completed a liberal arts program (BA) at North Central College, Naperville, IL (1950), and received two graduate degrees from the University of Iowa (M.S.1953, PhD 1957), where he worked as a research assistant (1951-52) in the University Hospitals’ Urology Department (Histological Preparation of Embryonic and Adult Tumorous Tissues). His early morphological studies of the ultimobranchial tissues in lower vertebrates stimulated further research in that department, leading to the discovery of Calcitonin, a hormone involved in the metabolism of Calcium. Charles also worked as a graduate teaching assistant (1952-1957) with the Department of Zoology, University of Iowa. On June 20,1953, in Benton Harbor, MI, Charles married Lillian E. Lysaght, a daughter of the family whose farm provided summer employment for Charles and a fellow veteran-student.

Teaching Career:

1957-1958 Assistant professor (temporary) Zoology Department, University of Illinois, Urbana. 1958-1961 Assistant professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati.

1961-1964 Associate professor, Biology Department, North Central College, Naperville, IL.; Resident Research Associate, Division of Biological and Medical Research and Teacher Training Program Consultant (using radioisotopes to teach university-level embryology and endocrinology), Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois.

 1964-1967 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University school of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA. Member of a research team involved in an extensive embryonic, biochemical and autoradiographical study of the hormonal factors in sexual development of the brain (hypothalamus) of the rat embryo.

1967-1990 Associate professor to tenured full professor, Department of Biology, Mankato State University. Courses taught: Developmental Biology, Human Anatomy, General Zoology, General Endocrinology.

Honors:

Society of Sigma XI, for his promotion of scientific research.

Jackson and Perkins Rose Panel, Upper Midwest Region, growing and evaluating test hybrid roses.

Certified Master Gardener for the Mankato region, University of Minnesota Extension Service. Science Fair Judge, senior entries regional and state science fairs in Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota.

Honorary Kentucky Colonel, awarded by the Honorable Steven L. Beshear, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, for academic services and preliminary scientific accomplishments in education.

Awarded the rank of Captain USN by Senatorial Recognition (September 7, 2010) for helping to create a lasting collection of primary resourced materials regarding the USS Nevada.

Participant in the Veterans History Project, sponsored by the Library of Congress, Washington,

D.C. for scholarly and educational purposes.

Participant in SE Minnesota Honor Flight Group visit to national memorials in Washington D.C. area, as a Pearl Harbor Survivor from “Battleship Row”, was rendered military honors by Joseph R. Tampa Jr., USN, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the US Navy.

Certificates of Recognition and Appreciation from the Minister of Defense, Republic of France (1994) for Charles’ services June 6, 1944 at Normandy; from the Minnesota Secretary of State, Order of the North Star (2001) for his services on December 7, 1941; From Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, proclaiming Charles Sehe, former shipmate of the USS Nevada as an adopted son of the State of Nevada. French Legion of Honor Medal, presented by Guillaume Lacroix, Consul General of France in Chicago, on September 30, 2020 at the Morson-Ario-Strand VFW Post 950, for the service aboard the USS Nevada at Normandy, Cherbourg, and Toulon.

Charles was preceded in death by his wife Lillian, his parents, his brothers John and William, his sisters Irene( Fulton) Weber, Frances (Donald) Nappen, and Margaret (Norman) Nicaise, two nephews, Norman Nicaise Jr., and Ron Weber, and niece Pam (Alvin Leon) Waters, and son-in- law Dr. Frank Vito LoParco.

Charles is survived by his daughters Isabel Sehe, Mari(Clarence) Ites, Kieran (Frank Vito) LoParco, and Elizabeth Sehe, and son James Sehe, and four grandchildren, ten great grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren and many nephews and nieces.

Charles’ family wishes to thank the Mankato Clinic, the Mayo Health System, and Ecumen Hospice for the care provided. They are grateful for the spiritual support and sacraments received as a member of Ss Peter and Paul Catholic Church. The family is grateful to James Hansen, Ben Hansen, Matt Hansen, and Heidi St. Peter of RiverBend Business Products for the support of his published works over many years. The family is also grateful for the support of VFW 950 Mankato, North Mankato American Legion Post 518, and Fox River-Geneva IL American Legion Post 75; and to the late Dr. Benjamin Lund, retired head of the Minnesota VA, who came out of retirement to help Charles during his hospitalization for PTSD at ISJ/Mayo Health System.

Memorials preferred to:

Ss Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 105 N 5th St. Mankato, MN 56001 (with memo line for Charles Sehe; 2024 Catholic Ministries Appeal and Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans, Attn: Sue Worlds, 724 Madison Ave, Mankato, MN 56001 (with memo line in honor of Charles Sehe).