Charlie Harper

Wednesday, December 6, 2000

Charlie Harper

A few years

ago I wrote a story about someone in the Prime Timer pages who touched

my life. When I first talked with Charlie Harper and his wife Mamie, he

was running for the office of tax commissioner. He lost the election,

but I gained a friend.

Charlie always

had a kind word, a bit of humor or a tidbit of wisdom to share with me,

and with others. Although he suffered from diabetes and related side effects,

he was a regular attendee at the Republican breakfasts, collecting money

at the door, helping out where he could. He smiled and continued on when

many others would not have.

He and Mamie

lived in Fayette County for their entire married life, raising four children

in the county. Harper worked as a field auditor for the federal government

for "22 years, four months and nine days."

After retiring,

he bought what became a local landmark in Fayette County, Travis Hardware,

which he owned for ten years. After selling Travis Hardware, which is

now closed, he went to work with J. Crumpler and Associates for six months

prior to opening his own accounting firm.

He loved to

fish and watch baseball, saying he would have made a good baseball coach

since he was always trying to out-manage the coaches. Harper was active

at Bethany United Methodist Church and was a member, and past master,

of the Fayetteville Masonic Lodge. He was also a long-standing member

of the Kiwanis.

Charlie Harper

touched many, many lives in Fayette County. We lost a good man and a good

citizen Thursday evening.