Christopher Slocombe Welch passed away on the morning of August 17, 2024 after a long battle with Alz-heimer’s disease. According to Chris, he was “born in Hartford, Conn., and was immediately moved to West Hartford where he grew up without incident for 18 years.” After leaving the Hartford area for Sunnyvale, Calif., he met his future wife, Betty (Hand) Welch, at a local Chinese restaurant. While in Sunnyvale, Chris graduated from Leland Stanford Jr. University in 1966. Chris and Betty confirmed their love by marrying on February 1, 1967. Chris and Betty’s next adventure was a move to Cambridge, Mass., where Chris completed his Ph.D. in oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chris was fond of noting, it “is not known when or how they escaped Cambridge” but from there they moved to Gloucester Point, Virginia, where they set up deep roots, finding a wonderful house by the river and continuing their long and happy life together with their dogs and cats. Moving to Gloucester, Chris began working for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. While in Gloucester, he had a long and eclectic career doing everything from working for NASA to teaching at William and Mary and even doing a stint as a high school science teacher. Chris’s work included input to ocean navigation charts used by mariners to this day. As a member of the Gloucester Point community, he sang baritone for Abingdon Church in Gloucester and was quite active with Betty on a local cable TV station, broadcasting over 1,000 shows of the popular program, “Woman’s World,” where Chris served many roles including cameraman, editor and technical expert during the show’s 22-year run.
He was predeceased by his wife, Betty (Hand) Welch, and his elder brother, Winthrop Anthony Welch II. He is survived by younger sister, Sherry (Welch) Briggs, and his nieces and nephews, Winthrop Welch III, Audrey (Welch) Breen, Jenny Briggs, and Benjamin Briggs.
Family will receive friends at Andrews Funeral Home, Gloucester, at 10 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. on Friday, August 23, 2024.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, August 23, 2024 at 12 noon at Abingdon Episcopal Church, 4645 George Washington Memorial Highway, White Marsh, Va.
The interment will be held at Sylvan Lawn Cemetery, Greene, N.Y., Saturday, September 7, 2024. Sylvan Lawn is on the corner of County Road 32 (Juliand Street) and Highway 206 in the town of Greene, east of the village of Greene.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society, P.O. Box 385, Gloucester, Va. 23061.
As Chris was fond of saying, “So long!”