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UPDATE: A graveside service for Charmaine Ann (Freeman) Wiitala will be held 11:00 am Saturday, July 25, 2026, in the Forest Hill Cemetery of Houghton.
Charmaine Ann (Freeman) Wiitala, 92, a longtime Copper Country resident, currently residing in Lansing, passed away on April 20, 2026 after a short illness.
Charmaine was born on May 3, 1933, to Charles E. and Evelyn (Robinson) Freeman, in Stambaugh, Michigan. She was primarily raised by her grandparents, Charles and Clara Robinson, who managed different business interests and grew up in Iron River, Manistique, and Escanaba, while also spending summers at her grandparents’ summer cottage on Chicagoan Lake in Iron County. She graduated from high school in Escanaba in 1951.
While attending Northern Michigan College of Education (now NMU) in Marquette, she met Harold W. Wiitala, and married him on September 5, 1953, in Escanaba. Charmaine followed Harold where his teaching career took him, and they resided in Felch, Metropolitan, and Ann Arbor, before settling in Misery Bay, where they made their home for many years. After Harold’s passing on December 26, 2001, she made her home at Arbor Green Apartments in Houghton, before moving in early 2021, for health reasons, to the Lansing area.
Charmaine was a keen conversationalist and enjoyed meeting new people. She also enjoyed reading (especially Agatha Christie mysteries and British royal family biographies), and crossword and jigsaw puzzles. Besides her husband, Charmaine was preceded in death by her parents, stepfather Ralph Smart, an infant son in 1954, her daughter Katelyn Jane Peach in 2025, and her half-sister, Jane Smart. She was also preceded in death by her in-laws: Harold H. and Ingrid (Suksi) Wiitala and Elaine Anuta.
Survivors include her children: Karen of Tacoma, WA; Howard of Moyock, NC; Craig (Carmen) of Virginia Beach, VA; Claire (Scott) Wiltsie of Monroe, NC; and Matt (Sheila) of Lansing. She is also survived by seven grandchildren and a step-grandchild, and six great grandchildren. She is further survived by her son-in-law Jim Peach of Sault Ste. Marie, MI; her brother-in-law, Michael J. Anuta, of White Bear Lake Township, MN, and her niece and nephew: Kirsti (Ahvo) Taipale of St. Paul, MN, and Michael A. (Jean) Anuta of Marinette and their children.
Per Charmaine’s wishes, she will be cremated. There will be no visitation or funeral service. Burial of her ashes will take place later this year at Forest Hill Cemetery in Houghton. Friends and family are welcome to attend, and a notice of the exact date will be forthcoming. In lieu of cards and/or flowers, contributions may be made in Charmaine’s memory to the Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly in Hancock.
To view this obituary or to send condolences online to the family, please visit https://www.memorialchapel.net.
The Memorial Chapel Funeral & Cremation Service – Hancock Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.
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