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While majoring in economics, Percy devoted himself to the practical application of that inexact science. Of course he waited on tables. But he also took over and expanded a cooperative purchasing operation for all the fraternities, ran it into a highly profitable enterprise. He assumed management of the libraries in all the men's residence halls. He recruited students for an association of small colleges, got 5¢ for the name of every high-school student that he submitted and $10 for each of these who actually entered. Business got so good that Chuck subcontracted the job to some of his fellow university students, paid them 3¢ a name and $5 per college entry.
So hectic was Percy's extracurricular pace that his grades suffered (he graduated with a C average), and University Chancellor Robert Hutchins was once moved to admonish him: "You're exactly the kind of student I'm trying to keep out of the university." But in later years Hutchins recalled Percy as the "richest boy who ever worked his way through college." He had a point: in his senior year at the university, Chuck grossed $150,000 from his business enterprises, netted $10,000.
Hymns & Games. When Percy graduated in 1941, a fulltime job was waiting for him at Bell & Howell. Joe McNabb put him in charge of the company's newborn defense-contracts department. Two years later Chuck joined the Navy, where his business experience led to a post in procurement operations.
During his three-year Navy career, Percy married Jeanne Dickerson, daughter of a Chicago plumbing contractor. They had three children—twin girls and a boy. Percy meanwhile had returned to Bell & Howell, become McNabb's right-hand man and been named to the board of directors—at 23. In 1947 Jeanne, who was not a Christian Scientist, underwent an operation for ulcerative colitis that was deemed successful. Still, her doctors recommended a second operation. This one brought on complications. Jeanne was given penicillin, to which she suffered adverse reactions. Other drugs were tried, but to no avail. After his wife died, Chuck agreed to an autopsy. According to Percy, the physicians concluded that she had died not of her original ailment, but of a reaction to the drugs.
For a long time thereafter, Percy lost himself in his work, took the children with him whenever he traveled out of town on business. In 1950, after an 18-month courtship, he married Loraine Diane Guyer, whom he had met on the ski slopes of Sun Valley. Percy has two children by his second marriage, and his family life strongly reflects his penchant for organization. The Percys live in a sprawling lakefront home in Kenilworth, north of Chicago. There is swimming in the family pool, which is enclosed in a special wing of the house. There are hymn singing ("We like to start the morning with a song"), Bible study, prayers, discussion periods, cycling, speed-reading projects, games and storytelling. Chuck's specialty: spinning little fantasies about "Weenie Mouse" and "Meenie Mouse" for his son Mark.