 OWAA Legends
Chuck Cadieux: Synonymous with DEDICATION
By John Catsis
This Living Legend attended 37 OWAA conferences in a row, during which he served
six years on the board of directors, three years as vice president, one year as
president and another as chairman of the board. In 1984, he was the recipient of
the Ham Brown Award, given for dedicated service to OWAA. These OWAA
achievements constitute only a small part of what Charles Louis Cadieux has
accomplished in his lifetime. Whether serving OWAA, working in the outdoors or
researching an article or book, the name Cadieux is synonymous with dedication.
I met Cadieux about 15 years ago at a summer conference of the New Mexico
Outdoor Writers and Photographers Association in Red River, N.M. I found him
unpretentious and easy to know. As others will confirm, he’s always been that
way. When Chuck greets you, you are the most important person in his life. He is
as dedicated to people as he is to the outdoors.
Charles (call him “Chuck”) Cadieux (pronounced Cad-YOU) was born on Sept. 4,
1919, in Jamestown, N.D. During his childhood he learned to fish and to hunt
pheasants. As he described it, that area of southeastern North Dakota was a
shotgunner’s paradise. Chuck later attended college, majoring in history and
economics, and graduated in 1941 from what now is known as North Dakota State
University.
He enlisted in the Navy in World War II. Cadieux was a lieutenant junior grade
when he was given the job of navigator aboard the USS Proteus, then the world’s
largest submarine tender. Because Navy rules required the navigator to be a
lieutenant commander, Cadieux was promoted to that rank. He enjoyed that
elevated status while witnessing General Douglas MacArthur sign the Japanese
surrender aboard the USS Missouri, which ended World War II. After Cadieux
navigated the Proteus back to the United States, the Navy again made him a
lieutenant junior grade.
That may or may not have been the reason for his career change, but the outdoor
world is better for it. In 1948, he sold his first story, “Ringneck Roundup,”
and earned $7.50 from Western Sportsman. At that time he was working as a
section stockman for the Northern Pacific Railroad. With that sale, writing
became part of Chuck’s identity. In 1951 he joined OWAA at the Escanaba, Mich.,
conference. Cadiuex was officially an outdoor communicator!
An article he wrote for Sports Afield caught the eye of the North Dakota Game
and Fish Department, and shortly thereafter Cadieux became its information
officer, eventually rising to the position of assistant director. Later, he
joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That’s how he met Judd Cooney.
Cooney was a student at South Dakota State College when he heard that someone on
campus was interviewing for a position as a government trapper. “I considered
that a dream job,” Cooney said, “because I’d already been trapping for several
years.” Cadieux hired Cooney on the spot, and from that moment a friendship
blossomed that has lasted to this day.
“Chuck got me started in writing,” recalls Cooney. “He invited me to join him at
the OWAA conference at Glenwood Springs, Colo., in 1965.”
In his lifetime, Cadieux has written more than 1,100 magazine articles and 11
books, two of which were Outdoor Life Book of the Month selections. Chuck’s
books cover a variety of outdoor topics. For example, there’s Goose Hunting,
which details a unique type of hunting prevalent on the rice fields southwest of
Houston, where two-foot-square rags cut from old bed sheets are spread out as
decoys. As Cadieux wrote in that book, “If I had been a bit quicker, I could
have bagged three geese from one flight, a feat which I have only accomplished
twice in my misspent life.” That’s Chuck: never taking himself seriously but
always serious about sharing his love of the outdoors.
Two other books deal with conservation. They are These Are the Endangered, which
explores the status of specific fur, fish and fowl species, and Wildlife
Extinction, which examines threatened animals around the world. These works
contributed to his receiving the Jade of Chiefs Award, OWAA’s top conservation
award, in 1996.
Cadieux’s love of travel resulted in the New Mexico Guide and eventually to his
most recent work, a revision of Great RV Trips, which first was published in
1998.
Chuck lives with his wife, Elida, in Albuquerque, enjoying New Mexico’s
brilliant blue skies and magnificent sunsets. He isn’t writing or traveling much
right now. A heart attack, two strokes, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and
failing eyesight have slowed him down. Despite that, those who know him know his
active mind continues to serve the outdoors.
An OWAA member since 1985, John Catsis lives and works in
Chandler, Ariz., where his specialties include photography, hunting,
recreational vehicles, build-it-yourself and business articles. Also a book
editor and publisher, he authored the first North American textbook on sports
broadcasting.
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