Family Log-In

Click Here

Charles Gilbert Torti was born on May 23, 1923 in Dallas County, Texas to Giovanni Torti and Estell Nelson. The first of six children, he derived his middle name from the delivering physician. Charlie, as he was known to friends, grew up on his father’s truck farm that was located just east of the present day Riverside Golf Club in Arlington where he developed his love of hunting and fishing along the banks of the Trinity River. His extended Italian family was part of the vibrant immigrant community that lived and worked in western Dallas county. After finishing school, Charles obtained his first employment at the Blackstone Hotel in downtown Fort Worth. It was during this time that he would meet his future wife, Lillian Wehrmann, who also worked at the hotel. He soon moved on to a better paying, but more difficult job at Gifford-Hill making concrete pipe. With the start of World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was eventually sent overseas with the newly created Air Transport Command to the Middle East. It was here that some of his most exciting experiences occurred, such as climbing the top of the Great Pyramid, ferrying high value cargo to the far east and being chosen for a special detail to serve meals to FDR, Churchill and Stalin during the Cairo and Tehran Conferences. He remained deployed overseas for the duration of the war. Charles returned home and chose to remain in the reserves with the ending of the war. After his first marriage ended and while working as a salesman at Leonard’s Department Store, he met Lillian again, who was then working at the Whitley drugstore on Hemphill Street. They subsequently married in September of 1950. Staff Sergeant Torti was reactivated for the Korean War and spent a two-year stent in the newly created Air Force. He and Lillian subsequently opened their own business, Bargain House Furniture, located on 1713 East Vickery Street in Fort Worth in 1952, which would serve the public in the same location for the next 55 years. Charles maintained his love for the outdoors taking many trips throughout his lifetime with his “hunting and fishing buddies” to Canada, Colorado, New Mexico, and in Texas and on his ranch in Young county. He was a Past Master of Fort Worth Masonic Lodge 148, the Presiding Officer of the Fort Worth Chapter & Council 42 and 58 and a member of the Mosaic Temple Board of Directors. He is preceded in death by his wife Lillian, his son and daughter-in-law Charles and Carrie, his brothers Thomas and Frank, his sisters Angelina and Letafaye. He is survived by his brother Johnny, son Russell and wife Sonya, daughter Sandra Jo Wilcox, grandchildren Frederick, Alexa, Gina and Charlotte, numerous great-grandchildren and a host other relatives and dear friends. A funeral service will be held 11:00 am, Saturday, January 7, 2016 at Brown’s Memorial Funeral Home, with interment immediately at Shady Grove Cemetery in Grand Prairie. A visitation will be Friday, January 6, 2016 between 5:30 and 7:30 pm, at the funeral home.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Charles Gilbert Torti, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.