Christopher W. Ashby, Sr.

Christopher Welsh Ashby Sr. passed away on December 28, after a long, valiant battle with cancer.

Born in Chicago in 1933, his family moved to the Castleton area in 1946. Chris attended Columbia High School where he excelled in four sports, baseball, basketball, football, and track. He was inducted into Columbia’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. Chris married Alice Johnson after high school and served in the Army (1st Armored Division) during the Korean Conflict, playing competitive baseball for Special Services. Chris and Alice had recently celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary. After his military service, Chris went to work for the family business, Welsh and Grey Lumber, and eventually became President and General Manager. Chris and Alice moved to Florida in 1979 and also lived in Mississippi and western New York, until moving back to the Castleton area in 2016.

Loving son, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and brother, Chris is preceded in death by his father and mother, George Arthur and Alice (Welsh) Ashby and is survived by his wife Alice, twin sister Catherine “Kitty” Murphy (Robert) ; brother, Peter Ashby; sons, Chris Ashby (Dixie) and Carl Ashby (Gretchen); daughter, Chandra Petre (Kevin); grandchildren, Heather Reimiller (Rich), Jacob Ashby (Kristy), Kristen Smith (Drew), Lucas Ashby (Katherine), Scott Petre, Aleah Petre, Sara Petre; great grandchildren, Holden and Elika (Jacob), Ashby and Carson (Kristen) and Grace, Charlie, Benny, Evelyn and George (Lucas).

A Funeral Mass will be held on Friday December 31, 11:00AM in Sacred Heart Church, 3 Catholic Way, Castleton-On-Hudson. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the church prior to the Mass from 10-11AM. Inurnment in Mountain View Cemetery will immediately follow the Mass.