Charles Alfred Brokaw was born on October 29, 1900. He was the only child of Charles Eugene Brokaw and Laura Crane Brokaw. He was called Alfred by his parents and school friends, Charlie by his wife and later friends, and often signed his name as Chas. A. Brokaw.
Laura returned to Oneida, Kansas, so that she could be with her family and her family doctor, Dr. Murdock, and six weeks later returned to Montana by train,with her son.
Alfred grew up in the three room log cabin that his father had built.

	Charles Alfred Brokaw and his parents

When he attended high school in Townsend, he roomed with a family in town. He was graduated from Broadwater County High School on May 13, 1918, one of a graduating class of 14. In the fall, he went away to the University of Washington, in Seattle. At the Engineering Open House, on April 28 and 29, 1922, Charles A. and his best friend, Orin Demuth, exhibited a "Vacuum Tube High Frequency Oscillator". He was at one time a member of the University rifle team.
After graduation from the University of Washington with a B. S. in Electrical Engineering in 1922, he obtained a job in radio engineering at the General Electric Company in Schenectedy, New York. Radio broadcasting was just beginning in 1922. One of the memorable events of this period was a trip to San Francisco in June, 1925, on the "Red Special", a special luxury train that took delegates and their wives across the country to the 48th convention of the National Electric Light Association. Charlie's role was radio operator, to tune in the various nascent broadcasting stations near the route of the train as it made its way accross the country. In March, 1930, Charlie was president of the Schenectedy Glider Club. After the Radio Corporation of America was separated from GE, he moved to the new RCA manufacturing facility in Camden, New Jersey. In Camden in the 1930's, Charlie was in charge of the development of radio communication equipment for police and aviation use. Four patents were issued in his name. During the second world war, he became product manager of the government communications section. Charlie and Doris moved to the nearby town of Haddonfield, New Jersey, living first in apartments. In 1934, when Charles J. was born, they were living in a rented "bungalow" at 35 Treaty Elm Lane., but soon after they moved to a rented two-story house, with basement and attic, at 417 Evans Avenue. In about 1942 or 1943 they purchased a large, older house at 116 Chestnut Street.
In October, 1945, because of Doris's health problems, Charlie arranged for a job transfer to Los Angeles, California, where he began work as an sales representative, and ultimately Western District sales manager, for RCA radio tubes and other components. He continued in this position until retirement in about 1962. The family drove their 1941 Ford from New Jersey to Los Angeles in ten days in early October, 1945. Cynthia Vose went with them, to see the country and help care for Pamela; she returned to Princeton by train after the family reached Los Angeles. They spent the next two weeks living in a motel in Pasadena, while unsuccessfully searching for a house or apartment to rent, anywhere in the Los Angeles area. Since Charlie had only a one-month leave for this move, at the end of October they drove north to Plains, Montana, where Doris, Charles and Pam remained with Charlie's parents, while he returned by train to Camden. After returning to Camden, Charlie found a solution to the housing problem -- he traded houses, sight unseen, with someone who was moving from Los Angeles to New Jersey. In early February, he returned to Montana, and the family drove south to their new home, a simple three-bedroom tract house at 6485 West 89th Street, in the Westchester district of Los Angeles. The nominal value of the house at this time was about $6500. This house was later torn down when the property became part of the Los Angeles International airport.
In 1950, the family moved to a larger house at 617 Sierra Street, in El Segundo, CA, purchased for about $15,000. When Charlie retired in 1962, he and Doris moved to Escondido, CA, first to a small house and later to a mobile home, so that they could more easily leave it unattended while travelling. In the 1970's, they moved to a condominium in San Luis Obispo, CA. Charlie died there on June 11, 1983, only a few months after Doris's death.
Charlie and Doris had two children, Charles Jacob and Pamela Jane.