Charles ‘Chuck’ Humberson

Chuck Humberson taught secondary social studies from 1956 through 1988 in the DoDDS system. His overseas career began in Narimasu High School in Tokyo and moved to Karlsruhe and Kaiserslautern, Germany, with a side trip to Rota, Spain.

Chuck was born in Casper Wyoming, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, and married his lifelong sweetheart, Ronnie Mayer, in Vancouver, B.C. in 1945. His first job out of the Navy was as a radio broadcaster at KVOC in Casper, where he was known as “Highpockets Humberson”. But following a BA from the University of Washington, he was drawn to the classroom and never looked back. He later completed a Masters at the University of British Columbia and post-graduate work at Oxford.

Like most career overseas teachers, he and Ronnie loved to travel and visited over thirty countries over the years. They especially loved exploring restaurants throughout the Alsace, Lorraine, and Champagne regions of France.

Chuck’s encyclopedic knowledge of history, government, and the American West provided the basis for great conversations–both inside and out of the classroom. And as an ardent Democrat, he especially enjoyed lively political discussions.

A longtime member of the Overseas Federation of Teachers and the Overseas Education Association, Chuck believed in the importance of teacher organizations and their positive impact on students and education. His impact on two generations of overseas students continues.