Charmaine Blazzard was born August 2, 1928, in Salt Lake City. She was the third of what would be five children. Her father was an educator. Her family lived in Utah before she was two years old and returned to Arizona, where she grew up in St. Johns and Prescott before the family moved to Tempe, where she graduated from Tempe High School in 1945.

Charmaine was very fond of music and was a talented singer, training in opera for a time. She attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she met and married Bill Pogue. They had seven children, one of whom preceded them in death. They moved to California in 1954 to pursue further studies and work. After their marriage ended, Charmaine worked in industry the San Jose area, eventually retiring from Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. In retirement, she enjoyed writing stories and books and making up jokes. Her deadpan sense of humor often took people by surprise as she would come up with some unexpected punch line, or invent new lyrics for an old song. She was particularly close to her sister Beverly, who passed away in 2020. She enjoyed traveling and seeing new things and places. She was fond of teaching principles with poetic verse, such as “Oh, what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive,” “He was right, dead right, as he sped along, but he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong,” and “Fools’ names and fools’ faces always show up in public places.” She was kind and good, and while she dreamed of many things she never got to do, she also got to do many things others only dream of. She lived through it all, good times and heartache, with a calm demeanor and a steady hand. If she ever had an unkind word for anyone, she was not heard to say it.

In the last few months of her life she returned to Utah for the first time since babyhood, and while her memory had failed, still occasionally broke out with a funny quip or shared a few bars of “It’s a long way to Tipperary.” She passed away in Spanish Fork on June 26, 2022.

She was grateful for the constant help and company of her daughter Daphne, who took care of most of the details of her life the last few years.

She is survived by her six children, Steven Pogue of Spanish Fork, Devon Nicholson, Theron Pogue, Daphne Curtin and Ethan Pogue of California, and Allison Dietz of Texas, eleven grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, and her brother Norse Blazzard.

She was always fond of singing, “We’ll meet again by the roses in the Valley of the Moon.” Farewell, kind and loving Mama, until we meet again by the roses.