Quarantine 'can't stop the feeling' for Waukesha World War II veteran

WAUKESHA -- The world knows him as "Dancing Chuck," but his friends in Waukesha call him Charles Franzke.

Charles "Dancing Chuck" Franzke

Like a performer getting ready to take the stage; the music is blaring and the dancer is ready to bounce. A 43-second cell phone video clip of Franzke posted this past Sunday has gone viral.

"I just cannot sit still when I hear that nice music," Franzke said. "I never have planned anything in any of my dances. I hear the music, I get up, and my brain takes over I guess."

The man behind the moves is a World War II Navy veteran. Despite being 97 years old and confined to his house during the Safer at Home order, it didn't take any convincing to get him up and moving.

Karyn Roelke

"I've been filming dances with Chuck for about four and a half years. He loves to dance, he's a ham," Karyn Roelke, of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, said. "He likes to pretend that I'm forcing him to do that, but in actuality he thinks it just as much fun as I do."

The two met through the local Honor Flight program and have been shooting videos -- like the one that went viral to the tune of Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling" -- for years.



"The first one was a bit accidental, and since then he's always asking when can we do another one. Or is game for it whenever his birthday rolls around," said Roelke.

Beverly Franzke

Franzke's wife, Beverly, has been there for every shoot and says things like this are better left to the professionals -- or, in this case, Chuck.

"I think he enjoys it, and it's good for Honor Flight too," she said. "Our kids are all, 'don't let this go to your head, dad!'"

With nearly a century of life in him, one thing is certain. When the music plays, there's no stopping the feeling. Chuck said he only does this once a year, but if Justin Timberlake were to stop by he'd make an exception and dance with him. His one demand, though: He has to pull up to his house in a limousine.