Charles Salyards

Charles “Chip” Foster Salyards Jr., age 56, passed away on April 14 in Dover, New Hampshire. Chip was a former resident of Falmouth and Hopkinton.

A husband, a father and a friend sum up everything Chip wanted in life. He was a family man first, a husband who loved unconditionally and was blessed to marry his best friend. He was a youth coach, the biggest fan to his kids, a global citizen, a proud sales professional, a life coach, a storyteller, someone who cared deeply about others, and an incredibly happy person who brought people together with his infectious smile and his gift of “gab.” He collected license plates from all over the world and was proud to have traveled to over 50 countries. While he would say he “was never the smartest guy in the room,” he often was. He enjoyed being an active participant in life, especially when it came to his children. Whether it was Singapore or Hopkinton, he loved creating time to coach them on the field and in life. A perfect day for Chip was spent with the love of his life, Wende, watching their children competing in some sport surrounded by their friends.

Charles Foster Salyards Jr. was born Oct. 25, 1966, in Boston, the only child to Phyllis (Pearce) and Charles Salyards. Chip always felt fortunate to receive an amazing amount of love from his two great parents. From the onset, they shaped the wonderful man he was to become.

He grew up in Randolph and graduated from Randolph High School in 1984. Chip attended Stonehill College, where he played football and remained great friends with his many teammates. He earned a B.A. in communications from Stonehill in 1988. Following his graduation, he became an assistant football coach in 1989. As a proud alumnus, he never stopped giving back and loved talking about how big (of an influence) Stonehill was for being a “small” school.

Always seeking to better himself, he later went on to earn an MBA from Suffolk University in 1999. Chip was a businessman who loved to mentor those who shared his thirst to learn.

From a business perspective, his first job at W.B. Mason was instrumental in his development as a sales professional. It left an indelible mark on him what hard work, commitment and perseverance could lead to when it was applied. That later led to a 15-year career at BMC Software. Nine of those years were spent based in Singapore. Following his career at BMC, he took his experience and enthusiasm for building world-class sales teams to ProntoForms, Rocket Software and Outsystems, where he held executive sales leadership positions and delivered repeated success. The culmination of Chip’s career led to his most recent appointment as chief revenue officer at Catchpoint Software.

Chip was hit hard with a “love at first sight” experience. It was in May 1995 at the Bell in Hand Tavern in Boston. Wende took his breath away and stole his heart. A true love story began immediately following that first encounter.

His favorite and most important jobs were being a husband and dad to his amazingly beautiful wife and his five fantastic children.

He is survived by his wife, Wende, daughters Kylie (25), Logan (23) and Paityn (22), sons Cole (20) and Trent (17), mother-in-law Joan Page, brother-in-law Daryl Page, sister-in-law Andrea Page and nephews Brady and Brandon Page.

He also is survived by uncle John Salyards, aunt Jeanne Pearce and uncle Joe Ruffo, along with cousins Christopher, Eric and Danny Pearce and Mark and Joe Ruffo along with Joanne Proctor.

Chip will be remembered as a loving and caring person who touched many lives. He will be deeply missed by his family, friends and all who knew him.

Visitation will take place Sunday, April 23, from 2-5 p.m. at Chapman Funerals & Cremations, 475 Main Street, Falmouth. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, April 24, at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Church, 511 Main Street, Falmouth. Burial will follow at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in memory of Chip to support one of two organizations close to his heart: Team Impact, teamimpact.org, or Dr. Praful Ravi’s prostate cancer research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284. Please write checks payable to Dana-Farber and include “In memory of Charles Salyards” in the memory line.

For the online guestbook and directions visit chapmanfuneral.com.

Obituaries are submissions, typically from funeral homes, that are not subject to the same level of editorial oversight as the rest of the Hopkinton Independent. Obituaries may be edited for grammatical and factual mistakes and clarifications and shortened for space considerations.