Charles Hamilton Wigley
Obituary

Charles “Chuck” Hamilton Wigley was born in Hawthorne, California, and passed away peacefully on December 24, 2025, in Culver City, California, surrounded by friends, following complications due to pneumonia.

Chuck enjoyed life’s simple pleasures. He loved spending time with friends, listening to music, watching Dodgers baseball, and following horse racing. He was known for his kind and caring nature and his great sense of humor, which brought warmth and laughter to those around him.

Chuck would want to be remembered as a good friend and a devoted family member.

He is survived by his cousins Pam, Michelle, Jack, and Rick. He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister.

A note from Chuck’s close friend Andy… 

The Chuckonator. The Chuck Wagon. C-Dog. Boom-Chuckalukka. The Czuckoslovakian. Anton Chukhov. The C-Note. Chucky Cheese. Chuckminster Fuller.

I’ve heard occasionally that having multiple nicknames is a measure of affection. To me and Renee, and to many of the musicians and songwriters we know, it applied to The Chuckonator. He loved live music, and the music of the 60’s and 70’s. All of it. But at the top of that deep and wide pyramid was The Beach Boys. Partly, it was because Chuck went to Hawthorne High with two of the band members, and used to ride his bike over to their garage to listen to them rehearse. He was one of the first ten people to join the Beach Boys fan club.

   He also played baseball in high school, and spent a tour of duty keeping Thailand safe during the Viet Nam War. We first met the Chuckonator in the late 90’s but bonded more deeply in the early 2000’s when he approached us at a Hometown Buffet Holiday show we had played. We learned over time that he lost his mother on Christmas day 1996, and his only sister two years later, leaving him the only surviving member of his clan. He had been married as a young man, but the couple split without children. Music became his family.

     Outside of music, his great love was baseball, especially the Los Angeles Dodgers. He could be a betting man, and for years kept several notebooks which documented the score of each game. On several occasions, he travelled to Arizona to attend spring training.

     He rode with me to my solo gig in Rancho Santa Margarita every Thursday for years. He attended over 100 of our shows per year, only slowing down in the last couple of years when his medical issues began to mount. The Chuckonator was a friend to our band members, to many members of our audience, in particular Bob and Lorraine Westphaln and Heidi and Charlie Lowe, and to many of the musicians in our extended circle of friends. Importantly to me, he was a good friend to my young son Chase, with whom there appeared to be no troublesome chasm with regard to their huge age difference. Together they shared Beach Boys music, memorized Seinfeld scripts, and corrected the quizzes each time we celebrated Festivus.

     In another life, Chuck could have been a voice-over artist. He spoke in a deep, resonant timbre and kept us laughing with his personal catch-phrase "Come Onnnnn...." and hilarious impressions of various cartoon figures, beloved celebrities and historical figures. On his 70th birthday his various skills, quirks and tendencies were memorialized in a song I wrote about him with my son Chase, called “See You Later Chuckonator”.

   Renee and I, and many of our musical compatriots will miss the image of Chuck sitting at a table among friends listening to the band, singing along and enthusiastically miming the piano and bass parts. Rest in peace old buddy. You improved the quality of our lives, and it was an honor to be your friend.

Chuck will be deeply missed and fondly remembered by all who knew him