Submitted by his wife

Charlie was with the department for almost 31 years and had worked his way up to Battalion Chief. He was going to retire at the end of 2004 and we were looking forward to enjoying our retirement years together. His exercise routine was jogging five to six miles a day. He felt that staying fit was the way to survive on the job. On March 13‚ 2004 he answered his last alarm. He was killed when the bell tower of the Ebenezer Church fell and crushed him. He would have celebrated his 56th birthday on June 29‚ 2004.

Charlie was a devoted and loving husband and father. He was a very quiet and private man. His family was the most important thing in his life. We would have been married 27 years on May 7‚ 2004. I will always remember his smiling face and the positive outlook he had on life. He had a unique way of laughing at himself and making others laugh. When I lost him I lost my best friend. Our sons were the pride of his life‚ and he would have done anything for them. His face beamed any time he would speak of them. Charlie had a love for music and‚ unknown to many; he had a beautiful singing voice. His singing ability was a gift that he passed on to our two sons. Charlie had a love for the outdoors and a true love for animals.

Charlie was our hero every day of his life‚ not because he was a firefighter‚ but because of the way he lived his life and the contribution he made to our lives. He would not want to be remembered for being killed fighting a fire‚ but instead he would want to be remembered for being a compassionate‚ caring‚ and loving husband and father. He would want to be recognized for the wonderful sons that he has left behind and not for the job that so cruelly took his life. Charlie was preceded in death by his infant son Steven and leaves behind his loving wife Jamie and his two loving sons‚ Charlie Jr. and Dan.