Ode to Charles

Our dear friend Charles Harper died yesterday. He was 89.
Charles had an accomplished life. He received the Purple Heart in WWII and was known locally as Mr. Harper of Harper's Bluebonnet Bakery. He will surely be missed.
What I loved most about Charles was his generosity. Adam and I first got to know him when we started sitting by him at church. Before we had kids or a house with a pool, we would spend Sunday afternoons in Charles' pool and then dinner at El Fenix with Charles and a margarita. He was always glad to have someone around to swim with and we were happy to have somewhere to swim.
As he got older, he decided his home was too much work for him, so he decided on his own to move out. Before he moved he had his family come and pick anything they wanted out of the house. After they were done he even let Adam have his choice of tools from the tool shed. Charles moved to an assisted living facility and hired a firm to run an estate sale of his belongings. Then he sold his home. He never wanted to be a burden or extra work on anyone and wanted all his belongings distributed while he still could do it.
Charles used to take his camera to church and take pictures of everyone. The next Sunday you would be presented with a beautiful 8 1/2 x 11 candid photo of you or a family member. Most of the time you didn't even realize he had taken your picture. He also ran the church website until it was outsourced to someone else.
Every Monday and Friday morning Charles got up early and met the Methodist Men for a prayer breakfast at one of the local diners. At Vickery Cafe, they still have some of Charles' old license plates displayed. Every Wednesday morning he went to church to play dominoes and cards during Heritage Hour. As his health began to fail and he stopped driving, the church started to bring Heritage Hour to him.
Even in his late years, Charles was on the forefront of technology. He was the first person I knew on Facebook and Twitter, and he most recently took to Skyping his son in Las Vegas. He sent cute and clever e-mails daily. Sometimes he would send Adam a real funny one, but being a gentleman, would not send it to me. I always got an extra laugh out of that.
Charles loved our children. Claire took her first long walk down the hall of Mirabella, where he lived, and Paul enjoyed doing the same. When we visited him we would be surrounded by ourselves. I kept Charles supplied in pictures and he glued them to every surface in his home.
The kids knew where Charles kept his orange slice candy, held closed with a binder clip, and his peppermints. He never let the kids go home empty handed and even gave Claire a kitchen timer one time and unknowingly re-gifted several gifts we had given him. I always smile when I hear Charles kitchen timer from Claire's room. It's a popular toy.
Before the Sharper Image website went out of business he bought everyone he knew little gifts from there. We have cordless phones in our house and floating solar lights in our pool from Charles.
He had mechanical grabbers all over his apartment and the kids loved to use them to pick up items off his floor. He always had the Fox News network running on his television and several computers on to check his e-mail as it came in.
Before he died, Charles made all his funeral arrangements himself. He even picked out the funeral announcements to be passed out at the service. When he died yesterday, all his nephew had to do was make one phone call and everything fell into place.
The last time we saw Charles was Friday, July 2. We were headed out of town for vacation and wanted to give him a hug before we left. He told me he would be waiting until we got back. We returned Sunday and Adam tried to call him but there was no answer. He died the next morning, and I can't help but believe he did wait for us.
Somewhere in heaven right now, Charles and his wife Alta Faye are baking up a storm and tweeting about it. Too bad we don't have celestial Skype.