Charlene Edith Hoeflich

Pomeroy - Charlene Edith Hoeflich, 95, of Pomeroy, Ohio, passed away peacefully just after midnight on July 10, 2025 at The Springs at Wyandot Trail in Lancaster.

Born on June 19, 1930, she grew up on a farm in rural Athens County, where her family, the Nicholsons, grew most of their own food. Friends and extended family who had nowhere else to go during the years of the Great Depression found a home at the Nicholson farmhouse on Blackburn Heights. It was here, from this experience of banding together with family, friends, and neighbors to get through hard times, that Charlene learned the meaning of community — a concept that would shape her life, and touch all of ours.

Flash forward to the early 1950s, when she met Bob Hoeflich. Both being cautious people, they dated for four years. In 1957, they married. Also in 1957, Charlene joined Bob in the Pomeroy office of The Athens Messenger, leaving behind a career in social work to become a newspaper reporter. In 1967, Charlene joined Bob at the Ohio Valley Publishing Company, moving her talents to The Daily Sentinel. She continued as a reporter while also being a dedicated mother to her daughter, Jayne. While her daughter was a youngster, she worked from home, busily writing news stories for the society pages — the things that people want to share with their friends and neighbors, through all the fairs and festivals, flower shows, engagements, weddings, and new babies, and the sadder events too, the losses that every family and every community experiences — the ebb and flow of life along the river.

By the early 1980s, she had traded her home office for a desk in the Sentinel newsroom on Court Street. While Charlene was never a stranger to reporting hard news, it was the human-interest stories — the positive stories and the many, many features — that brought her the most joy. When her husband Bob retired in 1988, Charlene took the helm of the Sentinel, taking on the day-to-day administration of the newspaper as well as continuing to produce reams of copy in service to her community. It was always her passion to present Meigs County, its people and its places, at their very best — a best that she always had faith in, a best that she witnessed and participated in day in and day out, in the company of her friends, her colleagues, her fellow Meigs Countians. She continued this work that she so loved until she retired in 2014, at the age of 84.

Charlene was an integral part of many organizations in the Meigs County community. She was a stalwart member of her church, Middleport First Baptist, where she served many years as a trustee. She also served the Meigs County Historical Society, the Meigs County Senior Citizens’ Board of Trustees, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Pomeroy Merchant’s Association, the Meigs Chamber of Commerce, and the Meigs Cooperative Parish.

Charlene is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Jayne and Tobin Mann of Lancaster, and her grandson, Quinlan Mann, currently resident in St. Andrews, Scotland; one sister, Evelyn Nicholson Dishong of The Plains; and several nieces and nephews. Besides her beloved husband Bob, she was preceded in death by her parents, Howard and Eunice Nicholson, and her brother, Donald Nicholson, all of Athens; and her sister-in-law and brother-in-law Betty and Mike Hammer of Columbus.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Ewing-Schwarzel Funeral Home of Pomeroy. A graveside service for Charlene will be held Tuesday, July 15 at 11:00 a.m. at Beech Grove Cemetery of Pomeroy, followed by a celebration of Charlene’s life at the Ewing-Schwarzel Family Center. The family understands not everyone is able to attend services at the cemetery but you are still invited and encouraged to enjoy food and fellowship.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Meigs Cooperative Parish, where Charlene volunteered for many years, or to The First Baptist Church of Middleport.

You are invited to sign the online guestbook at ehwfh.com.