There is a place in Louisiana that you can't find using Googles Map. You can only find it if you are connected to the soil by blood or marriage.

Our roots trace back to that place. It is where the dust from red dirt roads mixes with the early morning dew and coats your skin with summer. The heat of the day is something you hear in the background while mosquitoes delight in every centimeter of exposed skin and chiggers make their home wherever your clothing fits tightest.

This is where the universe saw fit to welcome our Daddy on March 17, 1939.

He was the last bundle of joy brought into the home of Alma and Oscar Landry. From his first breath, he was held tightly in the arms of a large family. In addition to his parents, his brothers-PeeWee, Pat, Chubby, Cannonball, and Levain-and his sisters-Earnestine, Ducky, and Jo-all loved him fiercely, from the day he was born until the day each left this world.

When a person is given that much love, it is only natural to give some of it back.

Daddy did that first by marrying our mom, Helen, in a little white church that once stood where asphalt now covers the church grounds. Together, they welcomed their three children: Sam, Tracy, and Chuck.

Sam, his daughter who was late for everything, completed her work in this world earlier than expected. None of us understood that at first, but in time, we learned to accept what we could not change. Eventually, Helen needed to be with her oldest daughter, her firstborn, and left us to join Sam and wait for Daddy to join them.

Our Daddy stayed here with the rest of us for a few more years.

He missed Mama every day he lived without her. He kept her photograph in his den and spoke to her often. On October 6, 2026, while in the hospital, he let us know that he was ready to go home. We were there with him only a short time before it became clear that the home he was longing for was not simply the home he had left behind. He was ready to go home to Helen-to the place where he would be with her again.

He left the hospital, and later that day, peacefully passed away, finally going home.

And now, they are together again.

We had him for as long as we were allowed. Now we must carry him forward-it's up to us to pass his cherished memory to generations to come.

Charlie was a hard worker. He worked as a pipefitter on projects that took him from hospitals to nuclear power plants, from Mobile, Alabama, to Karachi, Pakistan.

He proudly served his country as a member of the United States Air Force. He remained, to the end, a proud veteran.

But perhaps his greatest work was not the work he did with his hands. It was the work he did building a family.

He brought his three children to the end of that bumpy dirt road, almost swallowed by wilderness, year after year, on the first Saturday after the first Sunday in June. There, at Shiloh Cemetery, we would reunite with family and friends.

As cousin Bubba used to say, "Pull up a headstone and have a piece of chicken."

Over the years, hearts have broken as one by one, loved ones left us. And hearts have been awestruck as each new member of the family joined us.

Charlie takes with him the last glimmer of a previous generation, as the next generation is just dawning. Some of the family he leaves behind never knew Alma and Oscar, but we know they must be happy with the legacy they created.

Their legacy is our Daddy.

And his legacy is us.

He leaves behind his middle child, Tracy, and the love of her life, Tom; his youngest child, Chuck, and his beautiful bride, Candy; his grandchildren, Ford; Rachael and her husband, Brian; Stephanie and her husband, Micah; TJ; and Zoe the caboose; and his great-granddaughters, Kara also known to him as peanut and and our sweet Magnolia Belle. He leaves behind a family so large that listing every name could never fully capture the love between us. He will be remembered by countless friends, coworkers, fellow veterans, cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws, and others whose lives were made better simply because he was part of them.

There is a version of heaven, that is a dirt road. At the end of it, the air rings with laughter and love. Alma and Oscar are there. Helen is there. Sam is there. PeeWee is there with Laverta, Pat with Eve, Chubby with Ouida, Levain and Cannonball are there, and Earnestine is there with Leonard, Ducky with Bob, and Jo with Shorty. Daddy is there, finally home and waiting for the rest of us. What a homecoming it will be!

The family is incredibly thankful to Charlie's team of doctors and nurses. Especially Stephanie Fouts and all of the medical and clinical staff at Southern Cancer Center and Bonnie, Sarah, and Dr. Pitts at Pulmonary Associates.

Funeral services to celebrate his amazing life will be held at 2 PM on October 14th, 2026, at Mobile Memorial Gardens Funeral Home. Burial will follow the service at Mobile Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Visitation will be held prior to the service from 1 PM to 2 PM on October 14th, 2026, at Mobile Memorial Gardens Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made in Charlie's memory to Anchor Cross Cancer Foundation

https://anchorcrossfoundation.org/donate/