Charles Hanlen Stone

Charles Hanlen Stone, 98, of New Cumberland died Monday morning, November 2, 2026 at home in his own bed, in the house his father built, in which he raised his children.

He was born February 28, 1928 in Harrisburg Hospital to the late Charles Grissinger and Josephine (Hanlen) Stone. He was predeceased in 2020 by his beloved wife of 68 years, Elizabeth Humber Hean Stone.

He is survived by his children, Charles G. Stone, II (Kimberly A. von Brandenstein Stone) of Seattle and Tucson, David H. Stone (Lisa Bailey Stone) of New Cumberland, and Elizabeth B. Stone of Lemoyne; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Charles was first and last a New Cumberland boy. He graduated from New Cumberland High School in the class of 1945, from Princeton University in the class of 1949, and Harvard Law School in the class of 1956.

At Princeton he majored in English, was a member of Court Club (home to many eccentric intellectuals), and Advertising Manager of the Princeton Triangle Club with which he toured the country by train. He was indeed a Princeton man for his whole adult life, attending about 70 Princeton Reunions, taking trips with classmates and their wives, and in the last 15 years serving as class secretary writing 20 columns a year for the Princeton Alumni Weekly, featuring stories about classmates, and alas, many obituaries. His sons followed him to Princeton: Charles, Class of ‘76, and David, Class of ‘79. His wife and daughter, of Wesleyan and Franklin & Marshall, humoured the three of them.

Charles was drafted into the US Army in 1951 at Fort Dix, and served as a “clerk typist” until honorable discharge in December 1952; where, as he loved to explain, he guarded the gold at Fort Knox in the afternoon, and in the mornings, transcribed the radio newscasts, then wrote the base newspaper. His stories of life in the army and the men from all walks of life he met there always reminded us of a MASH episode. He corresponded with and sometimes visited his old army buddies for decades, outliving them all.

On February 16, 1952, he married Elizabeth at Market Square Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg. It is notable that their three children were baptized at Market Square. The couple moved to Boston, where, as Elizabeth always recalled, they attended Harvard Law School, and where in 1955, they welcomed their first child, Charles.

Following graduation from Harvard, Charles returned to New Cumberland and joined the law office of Russell B. Updegraff which in 1957 became Updegraff, Weidner and Stone, continually evolving with other notable partners, and eventually including his 2nd and 3rd children, David and Lisa. His firm continues today, led by his son David, as Stone Shekletski & Deluca. Charles never officially retired from the practice of law, but stopped going to the office in his late 80’s. He was too busy with other things.

His curiosity for other things is perhaps best evidenced by his travels. Charles and Elizabeth, during their 70 years together, visited 97 countries around the world. His various children rendezvoused with them in Toronto, Bangkok, London, Australia, and New Zealand - just a taste of their remarkable journeys. They always made friends in the places they visited and exchanged correspondence and Christmas cards for decades, sometimes returning for reunions.

They brought the world to their children too, as they annually hosted foreign exchange students from many lands in their home in New Cumberland, sometimes for months at a time, while their children attended high school. Charles gave a blessing at the head of the table at those nightly international dinners and conversation and questions followed. Some of those visiting students still keep in touch.

Even in his 90s, neither his curiosity nor his acuity dimmed. He began each day with several Wordles and crossword puzzles, confidently completing the New York Times puzzle in ink, all of which took place on his back porch while wearing his zebra striped bathrobe in every month of the year, regardless of the weather. He said, when it was below freezing, that he solved the puzzles faster so he could go back inside. He liked to read the New York Times in Spanish and dabbled in other foreign newspapers to keep his language skills sharp. He habitually read half a dozen books simultaneously, often a sampling of great musicians, American history, explorations of the natural world, and biographies. He could recite the names, dates, and places from almost anything he had read in the past 90 years, faster than Google. However, he wasn’t afraid to pick up his iPhone to fact check a conversation. Charles was a thoroughly modern nonagenarian, facile with Uber and a daily user of FaceTime. He understood that Facebook was for old people but many of his friends were there.

Although Charles never considered himself an athlete, having barely passed the swimming test at Princeton, he did manage to teach his children how to throw a ball. He seldom watched sporting events, except for professional tennis and the occasional World Series game. He loved to walk in the woods, hiked the Tetons with his boys in his 50s, and walked the Milford Track in New Zealand with son Charles in his 60s. Moreover, in his 90s, he retained a personal trainer and became something of a phenomenon at the gym, attending two or three times a week. They increased his leg press weights last week. Only recently did he start using a cane, under protest.

His social life was filled with lifelong friendships, many centered around a circle of friends at The Country Club of Harrisburg and some forged earlier at the Green Hill School in New Cumberland and lately at Nick’s in New Cumberland. For fifty years he prized his memberships in the Tuesday Club, Chartier Club, and Bumblers (a book club) which helped nourish and sustain his intellectual life, and the 1:11(pm) Luncheon Club (about which little is known). In 2024, he published his own book, a memoir and family history entitled Our Beginnings. He was working on a dozen chapters for Book 2 at the time of his passing.

At the center of his many interests was his love of music. At the age of five, Charles asked his mother for music lessons, so they got him an upright piano, whereupon he taught himself to play before his first lesson. He probably had perfect pitch as a younger man, and he could play anything on the piano, always by ear, but preferably music written before 1955, when his interest in, and time for, popular music dwindled. As his children were growing up, Charles came home from work about 6 and played his grand piano nightly, ignoring all attempts by his wife and children to coax him to the dinner table until he had finished with his musical ruminations. Countless parties with his friends lasted well past midnight night with Charles at the piano. Charles and Elizabeth loved and supported the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, hosted bus trips to Tanglewood and Wolf Trap, and attended concerts in the many lands they visited. In recent decades, Charles has been the pianist for the Zembo String Band, who have played 70 gigs together in 2026 alone. These musical gigs were priorities in his calendar - let no meeting or appointment interfere with the band. One of his favorite annual gigs was playing at the Zembo Shrine Circus. And of course, there were many performances at retirement homes in the Harrisburg area, where he said “we play for the old folks”… despite often being the oldest person in the room.

Charles was not just a man but also a Freemason. He was a Master Mason in Robert Burns Lodge #464 F. & A. M. in Harrisburg and continued his journey to the 32nd° Scottish Rite and to the Shriners, and on to the Royal Order of Jesters, as did his father before him. Their musical contributions and charity are legend. His sons were also made Master Masons.

Charles, along with his beloved wife Elizabeth, have made a profound and lasting impact on New Cumberland and the surrounding communities through their lifelong charitable acts and gifts. Charles was quietly instrumental in the creation of the New Cumberland Borough Park. He and Elizabeth founded the Harrisburg Chamber Music Series and often hosted events in their living room in New Cumberland. They were major benefactors in the creation of the West Shore Theatre. Along with their friends, especially John and Jan LaFaver, and Robert and Beverly Fowler, the extraordinary New Cumberland Public Library exists as we know it today, including the adjacent Foundation House made possible by the New Cumberland Cultural Foundation. He was an ardent supporter of the Historic Harrisburg Association, a past president of the Harrisburg Symphony Association, the William Penn Memorial Museum Associates, the Cumberland County Historical Society, and of the Cumberland County Bar Association where in September he gave a speech to commemorate the 125th anniversary of its founding.

Charles and Elizabeth’s gifts to their community will live on as they created multiple donor advised funds, which will remain active under the guidance of their three children, and will continue to provide annual contributions to multiple local cultural and human needs organizations. May we all learn by their example.

Many will miss time and conversation with this humble man, a true Renaissance man, most of all, a wonderful human, one of God’s children, just a New Cumberland boy, home at last.

Visitation will be from 4pm to 6pm Tuesday, November 10th at Parthemore Funeral Home, New Cumberland. Memorial service will be held at 11am Wednesday, November 11th at Market Square Presbyterian Church, Harrisburg. Private burial will be at the convenience of the family in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Fairview Twp.

Parking is available in the Market Square Garage attached to the Church and located at 2nd and Chestnut. Please make a note of your license plate number before you leave your car.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Market Square Presbyterian Church. https://www.marketsquarechurch.org/