More detail on this person: CHARLES F. MAGNESS Army Officer Charles F. Magness, 54, a consultant and retired Army lieutenant colonel who was active in volunteer groups, died Nov. 6 as a result of an accidental fall from the roof of his home in Falls Church. A 20-year Army veteran, he devoted much of his career to aviation and served two tours in Vietnam around 1970. After retiring from active duty in 1980, he spent about five years as head of his own company, which did moving work for the Defense Department. He then became an international trade consultant. Since 1981, he also had been in Alcoholics Anonymous. He later became an AIDS information specialist and had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. In a 1992 story in The Washington Post, he told a Post reporter about sharing information about the disease and relating his own experiences and feelings concerning the affliction to area business audiences. For the past year, he had worked closely with the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry. Col. Magness had been active in a variety of treatment and recovery programs. He helped open the Whitman-Walker Clinic's Scott-Harper House for recovering gays and lesbians who are alcoholics. He had served on the Whitman-Walker Clinic's board of directors and as chairman of the clinic's alcoholism services volunteer operating committee. He also had been a volunteer with Whitman-Walker's Northern Virginia AIDS program and had been active in fund-raising efforts with groups combating AIDS and alcoholism. He also had been active in the movement to remove restrictions for homosexuals serving in the military. He was a volunteer speaker with the Campaign for Military Fairness. Col. Magness was born in Baltimore and grew up in Washington. He was commissioned in the Transportation Corps following his 1960 graduation from Georgetown University's foreign service school. In addition to his tours in Vietnam, he also had served with the Army Security Agency at Arlington Hall and the Military Traffic Management Command at Bailey's Crossroads and became a senior aviator. From 1977 until retiring from active duty, he was an Army transportation officer in Germany. His military decorations included the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and 10 Air medals. Survivors include his wife, Jacqueline, from whom he was separated and who lives in Falls Church; a daughter, Julia Elizabeth Magness of Alexandria; a son, Charles Jr., an Army warrant officer first class whose official residence is Arlington; two brothers, Thomas H., of Vienna, and David M., of Arlington; and a granddaughter.
Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
This information was last updated 06/18/2019
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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