Born in 1925, Charles David William Helsham von Stieglitz attended Evandale Primary School for two years before he moved to Launceston Church Grammar School when he was nine years old.

Lieutenant-Colonel von Stieglitz assisted his father at Andora, his farm at Nile, before establishing a carting business to transport goods to Launceston.

He joined the defence force in 1944 at the age of 19 to study engineering, and moved to the Army Reserve in 1950.

Lt-Col von Stieglitz was sent to Vietnam in 1967, where he commanded the first battalion of the Royal Tasmanian Regiment, was lieutenant-colonel of the 2nd/12th Battalion, and was commanding officer of the Royal Guard for the Queen's visit to Australia in 1986.

He was the president of the Northern Midlands RSL sub branch between 1984 and 1996, and was a founding and life member of the Evandale History Society.

Fellow Evandale History Society member Laurie Wotherspoon said Lt-Col von Stieglitz had always been friendly and personable.

"Even the day he passed away his mind was really sharp, he remembered everything," he said.

"He was walking history in many ways."

Lt-Col von Stieglitz was president of the Evandale National Trust between 1992 and 1995, and a member of the show committee and Local District Committee.

He was privately cremated.