Commander Charles Duane Wilson, CHC, USN, RET. was born on December 26, 1932 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the 4th of 5 sons born to the late Monte Edwin Wilson (b. April 23, 1904, Trilla, Coles County, Illinois, d. January 25, 1977, Miami, Dade County, Florida) and Dorothy Douglas Stewart (b. July 7, 1907, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, d. May 7, 1985, Miami, Dade County, Florida). Charles moved with his family from Adamsville, Georgia to Miami, Florida by train on March 15, 1938. He attended Edison Elementary School across from the high school. When the family moved to the southwest section of Miami, he attended Coral Gables Elementary School through the first half of the fifth grade. Because he was hit by a panel truck in May 1943, while on his bicycle, across the street from the school, he and his younger brother were changed to Silver Bluff Elementary that Fall and not permitted to ride bicycles to school. While attending Shenandoah Junior High School, he chose to take a half grade during the summer of 1946 rather than drop back as the school system eliminated the mid-year student enrollment system. He accepted Christ and was baptized at the age of eleven in West Flagler Park Baptist Church. Charles moved up through the chairs in The Order of DeMolay and is a Past Master Councilor. He was awarded the Order of Chevalier. He was a Boy Scout with Troop Forty-Four, Shenandoah Presbyterian Church. In 1947, he moved his church membership to Central Baptist Church downtown. Upon graduation from Miami Senior High School in 1950, he began teaching Sunday School in the thirteen-year-old department. Working three full days a week, he paid his tuition while attending the University of Miami. In September 1953, he lost his draft deferment, took his saved tuition money to marry Barbara Louise Scearce on 29 Sep 1953 in Miami, Dade County, Florida and was drafted in March of 1954. After basic training and Intermediate Speed Radio School at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he was stationed at Camp Landes de Bussac in Southern France. Charles' parents paid for his wife to join him. They lived in an apartment facing the Gironde River until returning home in 1956. He worked at the well-known family business Wilson Fence Company from the time he was fifteen years old and returned to that while attending the University. He went to Merritt Island, Florida to work in a Christian oriented construction company in 1957. There in February of 1958 he experienced his call to the Christian ministry, returned to manage Wilson Fence Company, and completed his bachelor's degree in June of 1960. While completing his degree at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, he was pastor of a small church in New Albany, Indiana and worked part time at Lays Potato Chip Company which became Frito Lay before his graduation in June 1964. He was called as pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Marianna, Florida and served until he was called to begin a new church in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1967. There during the Vietnam War he felt God's call to ministry in the military. Charles Wilson had a very distinguished military career in the U. S. Amy and U. S. Navy. He was commissioned a chaplain in the United States Navy, moved to San Diego, California and deployed to Vietnam in 1969. During twenty-four and a half years as a chaplain he served also in Florida, South and North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, Tennessee, Spain and Italy. He went to sea in the Atlantic, Pacific, South China Sea, Caribbean and the Mediterranean. He was medically retired in 1993 and lived in North Miami, Florida prior to moving to Atoka, Tennessee. To Charles and his wife Barbara were born 3 children. At the time of his passing he had 3 grand-children. Later in life he devoted a great deal of time with his family and the Wilson Family genealogy and allied families. He was especially diligent in making sure copies of his family genealogical records were shared with his relatives to ensure the family legacy of the Wilson and Allied Family names. Commander Charles Duane Wilson, was buried with military honors on March 12, 2008, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia with many family members present. In Timothy's words, Charles can say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7.

Note: The above information was written by Charles Duane Wilson found in some of his genealogical records in addition to information supplied by the family in his obituary.