Charles Candelaria
The self-taught, self-made tradesman that started an empire and left a legacy.
From a young age, Charles Candelaria had grit. As a smart student and talented athlete, Chuck was able to make a name for himself in a big city at a big school that had already seen a handful of his equally gritty, successful siblings come and go.
By the time I met him at two and a half year's of age, he was well on his way to advancing himself as a machinist at a circuit board shop in the Silicon Valley. Even though they chartered him to write the book on his job (literally) his greatest skill at this time in his life was being a mentor.
Whether on the field as a baseball coach the for Christian Challenge, hosting ping-pong tournaments in his garage for the whole neighborhood or teaching me the tips I would eventually go on to use as a skilled athlete myself, he was always coaching, leading, instructing and being a good friend.
In 1991, a dream was born in him to move north out of the Bay and create his own tile company. When the circuit board shop he worked for restructured and laid him off, he moved to the city of Redding to begin a new chapter of life for he and his family . Back then, working out of his home and garage, it was Redding Tile Works. In the years since he went from setting tile, to installing for the biggest contractors in town, then on to becoming the first granite and stone counter top fabricator in town, complete with a name change Redding Tile & Stone Works. Eventually RTSW became Redding’s biggest tile installer, stone counter top fabricator, and surfaces retail shop.
From the start Charles put one thing before all else: quality. When he hired workers he taught them everything they would need to know to succeed not just for Redding Tile jobs, but in the future as they pursued their own paths as tile setters,
granite fabricators, and contractors. He didn't just demand his own level of perfection from them either, he got on his hands and knees and taught it to them. That is the legacy he left behind.
Charles died in 2014, but the spirit of training young men and women to work a trade and do so above standard has not. This foundation exists to carry on this task.
Before he died, Charles often discussed his concern about the dwindling skilled-trade workforce. We seek to honor our Dad, Husband, Brother, Uncle, Best Friend, Mentor and Boss by working with our sleeves up until the work is finished at the highest quality.
-Christina
FUND. MENTOR. BUILD.
The Charles Candelaria Memorial Foundation exists to serve
aspiring skilled tradespeople in Northern California by providing
funding toward trade-specific education and training.
EIN: 81-3516054
Call: 530-221-3990
2956 Innsbruck Dr. Redding, CA 96003
