Charles (Chuck) Kiessling proves the adage that the squeaky wheel does get the grease, even if the wheel has to squeak for ten years or more. At long, long last, Coroner Kiessling has a new facility for the work of the Lycoming County Coroner’s Department. It is located at 3341 Wahoo Drive in Williamsport, which was announced at the County Commissioners Meeting on April 27th. After a decade of frustration, Coroner Chuck Kiessling stated publicly, “It’s a great step in the right direction.” He added, “This has been needed for more than ten years to get vehicles out of the weather for storage and decontamination, laundry facilities for cleaning equipment and contaminated clothing, along with the general operations of our office. More to come as this project moves forward.”
Through the years, I have heard the coroner speak many times about his struggles with deaths from drugs, shootings, traffic accidents, and suicides. Yet he was always more than just a coroner; he was a man who worked to save lives.
Chuck Kiessling was born and raised in Williamsport and, from an early age, had an interest in medicine. After high school, he worked as an orderly at Williamsport Hospital and decided to enroll in Lycoming College to study pre-med. But for a person who liked the action, the academics without practice was simply too dry for him. So, in the early 1980s, he decided to go to Williamsport Hospital Nursing School to become a registered nurse. He had already been serving as an EMT with the Old Lycoming Fire Company, so upon his graduation from nursing school; he received state certification as a PHRN (Pre-Hospital Registered Nurse).
From 1984-88, Kiessling worked hard in his multiple-faceted role as an emergency room nurse and a PHRN on paramedic trucks, and then in his “free time,” he volunteered as an EMT with the fire company. Somehow, he also found time in 1984 to get married to his wife, Gayle, and a few years later, got the attention of the county coroner, George Gedon, who saw in this ambitious young man an excellent choice for deputy coroner. Kiessling was accepted in 1986.
Kiessling served in this capacity until 1997 when the county commissioners decided to appoint him to county coroner “for a couple of weeks.” The “couple of weeks” as temporary coroner drug out into many months until finally, in 1999, Kiessling decided to run for election as county coroner in his own right, a position he won and has held ever since.
Coroner Kiessling’s accomplishments in the past twenty-plus years are amazing. In 2001, he and Tom Marino, who was the District Attorney at the time, formed the Child Death Review team. One of the first concerns was teen driving fatalities. Studies showed that the twenty-nine driving deaths in the previous four-year period had not been due to drinking or drugs but rather speeding and lack of seat belt use. Kiessling had a county map drawn up showing where these incidents occurred and the cause and had it distributed to schools throughout the county. The result was a drastic reduction in teen driving accidents.
In 2015 Kiessling became President of the PA Coroners Association; he has also been the Liaison to the PA Coroners Education Board for many years. In addition to all this, he served as Adjunct Faculty for the Pennsylvania College of Technology and Bucks County Community College instructing EMS and Death Investigation courses. He established the Lycoming County Cribs for Kids Program in 2008, providing infant safe sleep education and providing cribs to needy parents throughout the county.
Since January 1, 2000, when Chuck Kiessling officially became the county coroner, he has expanded the position far beyond determining causes of death. Lycoming County is blessed to have a coroner with the wisdom, tenacity, and heart as Coroner Chuck Kiessling.
