Charles Coles, 80, bank president, veteran, historian

Charles Coles Jr. of 18 New Street, a retired Ridgefield Bank president who had been active in the community and a student of its history, died on Monday, March 10, at Danbury Hospital. He was 80 years old and the husband of Ruth Orton Coles.
Mr. Coles was a man of many interests, but his two favorites were banking and Ridgefield history. He rose from the position of teller to become president of the Ridgefield Savings Bank, now the Ridgefield Bank. His love of and faith in banking was demonstrated in many ways, but none quite as intensely as when he chewed out a Press editor for a half hour after the newspaper ran a quotation over the front page flag, saying: “A penny saved is a penny getting smaller.”
He was fascinated by Ridgefield history and memorabilia, collecting and studying items ranging from candlesticks made here in the 1800s to hundreds of antique Ridgefield postcards. He was also an collector of and expert on antique clocks, many of which he had exhibited at the bank’s several offices.
Though people thought of him as a native, Mr. Coles was born in Oakville, Toronto, Ontario, on Sept. 11, 1922, a son of the late Charles Sr. and Elizabeth Evans Coles. His family came to the United States three years later, first settling in Garrison, N.Y., and then moving to Ridgefield in 1928.
He attended Ridgefield schools and graduated from Ridgefield High School in 1941. During his high school years, he was active in athletics, especially baseball, and earned the nickname of “Slugger Coles” because of his hitting abilities. He was a member of a team that nearly won the state championship for Ridgefield in 1940.
Mr. Coles was a student at Danbury State Teachers College in 1943 when he joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 193rd tank battalion. Sent to the Pacific, he took part in the invasion of Okinawa in April 1945. On April 19, his unit lost 22 of the 30 tanks in the assault on Kakazu Ridge, the greatest tank loss of the campaign. Only an hour after Private Coles was transferred from a tank that morning, its entire five-member crew was killed.
After the war Mr. Coles, who attained the rank of sergeant, served in the Army Reserves and was on active reserve status during the Korean War.
Back home in 1946, Mr. Coles joined the Ridgefield Savings Bank as a teller and bookkeeper. He became assistant treasurer in 1956, an incorporator in 1958, a director in 1970, and president in 1971. He served as president, chairman of the board, and chief operating officer at various times through the 1970s until his retirement in 1987. He remained a director until 1993.
Ridgefield Savings Bank became “the fastest-growing savings bank in the state” in the 1980s, he reported at the 1984 annual meeting. Under his leadership, the bank acquired land at the corner of Danbury and Farmingville roads to build its new headquarters.
Over the years he had been a student of banking, completing the Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University in 1960, and graduating from the American Institute of Banking (of which he was later a board member) and from various schools sponsored by the national Association of Mutual Savings Banks. He served as president of the Fairfield County Bankers Association, was on the Conference of State Bank Supervisors in 1985, and had been a member of the Legislative Committee of the Savings Bank Association of Connecticut.
“His whole life was the bank,” said Paul S. McNamara, current chairman of the Ridgefield Bank board of directors. “He loved the bank — he loved going to work.”
“Charlie really believed very strongly in the value of the customer,” added Mr. McNamara. “His focus was always on the customer.”
In 1971, on the occasion of the bank’s 100th anniversary, Mr. Coles teamed up with Karl S. Nash, editor and publisher of The Press, on a history of the Ridgefield Savings Bank. Mr. Coles did the bulk of the research for the publication, which appeared as a special supplement to The Ridgefield Press and chronicled the history of the bank and its leaders. The 36-page section was based on many hours of interviews with longtime residents and from research into old documents, and included dozens of old photos of the town, many from Mr. Coles’ postcard collection.
Twenty years later, Mr. Coles was one of the lead writers on another history section in The Press, describing the town’s participation in World War II. He spent months researching the 49 members of the Ridgefield High School Class of 1941 and their contributions to the war effort. His long article was entitled “Class of ’41: First to Go.” (Two classmates, George Vetter and Charles Cogswell, never returned.)
Mr. Coles had a great interest in antiques and especially antique clocks, a subject on which he became known as a local expert. He was especially interested in Ridgefield antiques and ephemera and had dealers all over the country helping him locate Ridgefield-related items.
In 1983, for the town’s 275th anniversary celebration, he put together a large display of old postcards, which he exhibited at the bank’s Main Street office.
In the late 1940s and 1950s, Mr. Coles played softball in leagues in Westchester and Ridgefield. In his first game in the newly formed Townies Softball League in Ridgefield in 1953, he hit a home run and pitched Hyde’s Liquors to a 10-6 win over Martin’s Jewelry Store.
His love of athletics led him to become active in youth sports. He was one of the organizers of Ridgefield Little League, and later served as its president. He had also managed Babe Ruth League baseball teams, had been a coach in the Red Raider football league, and managed boys teams in the Townies Basketball League.
For a while in the 1950s, Mr. Coles had been part-time sports editor for The Press. He was also fond of golf and invariably had a set of clubs in his car trunk, along with some of his latest antiques acquisitions.
Mr. Coles had been active in Boy Scouts, serving as committee chairman of Troop 47. He had also been a member of the Rotary Club for many years, an incorporator of the Ridgefield Boys Club, a treasurer of the Community Center, and treasurer for the local Red Cross.
In 1967, he was given the Ridgefield Jaycees Distinguished Service Award. When he retired after 42 years with the bank, he received testimonials for his service to the bank and community from President Ronald Reagan and Connecticut Governor John Rowland, then a congressman.
In 1999, the Ridgefield Old Timers honored Mr. Coles with its Civic Award, citing his “dedication and hard working in the various youth programs... Charlie spent many hours helping young athletes inprove their skills.”
Mr. McNamara added “something about Charlie that a lot of people are not aware of: He was very helpful to people in town in a very quiet way. If someone came to Charlie with a financial problem, he found a way to solve it. And he did that over and over again.”
Besides his wife of 55 years, Mr. Coles is survived by two sons, David C. Coles of Ridgefield and Gary R. Coles and his wife Barbara and their two children, Leigh Anne and Kevin R. Coles, of Bethel; and his brother, William Coles of Wilton.
Friends may call at the Kane Funeral Home, 41 Catoonah Street, on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.
Graveside funeral services will take place in Fairlawn Cemetery in the spring.
Memorials may be made to the Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association, 90 East Ridge or to the Ridgefield Fire Department Ambulance Fund, 6 Catoonah Street, both of Ridgefield 06877.