Walter John "Churp" Chuprun, a retired safety engineer, died of congestive heart failure Friday at Charlotte Hall Veterans Home, where he had been a resident for the past two years. He was 86 and a former resident of Brooklyn and Glen Burnie.
Born in Taylor, Pa., Mr. Chuprun served in the Pennsylvania National Guard and moved to Baltimore in the early 1940s as a welder and electrician at the former Maryland Drydock Co. He was drafted into Army Air Forces during World War II.
After the war, he became a safety engineer for the city Department of Public Works. He subsequently worked for a pallet manufacturer, Wilson Lumber in Glen Burnie, and retired many years ago.
He was a founder of Annapolis Church of Christ in the late 1940s, and helped to build Glen Burnie Church of Christ, where he remained a member. He had also belonged to the Brooklyn Volunteer Fire Company.
Mr. Chuprun enjoyed listening to Southern gospel music and television evangelists.
Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at Annapolis Church of Christ, 1601 Ritchie Highway in Arnold.
Survivors include his wife of 17 years, the former Dorothy Meadows; a daughter, Debra Romanoski of Annapolis; a brother, John Chuprun of Dayton, Ohio; two sisters, Gloria Jones of Fredericksburg, Va., and Sylvia Vladika of Taylor, Pa.; and two grandsons. A son, Walter Bruce Chuprun, died in 1973. His wife of 44 years, the former Estelle Evanick, died in 1985.