2001-08-29 - 5:50 p.m.

The newspaper edited the obituary all to pieces. Good thing we paid to have another one printed with his picture; at least they didn't modify that one, the bastards. Here's the hacked up version. ============== Charles E. Hartfield, auditor, founder of Reeds Landing SPRINGFIELD - Charles E. Hartfield, 91, of this city, a former city official and founding resident of Reeds Landing, died here on Monday. He was the principal auditor for the city, and retired in 1979. He previously held several sales positions, and owned the former White Bell Five & Dime Store. Born in Berlin, Germany, he graduated from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and became a judge. That career ended when he fled Nazi persecution to Italy in 1934. He came to this country in 1939. He was a member of the Springfield Republican Committee, and was elected a town meeting member while living in West Springfield. He later returned to this city. He received an accounting degree from the University of Hartford in the late 1960s. He was an active member of the American Humanist Association and the Ethical Society of Boston. He also belonged to the Tuesday Morning Music Club and the Springfield Bridge Club, and was a volunteer for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. His wife, the former Alice Hoff, died in 1988, and a daughter, Irene Cotton, in 1993. He leaves a son, Walter R. of Springfield; a sister, Ruth Cohn of Switzerland; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be conducted Friday afternoon at Reeds Landing, and Dickinson Streeter Funeral Home is in charge. Memorial contributions may be made to the Humanist Association of Massachusetts, P.O. Box 1125, Cambridge, MA 02238-1125, or the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, 75 Market Place, Springfield, MA 01103.