The Big Read Winner: “Charlie Spencer was everyone’s Atticus”
Charlie Spencer was Everyone’s Atticus
Charlie Spencer served as custodian in Henry County schools. He moved furniture and cleaned, always with good humor. But the quiet man behind the broom, like Atticus of To Kill a Mockingbird, contained a character that few possess.
Charlie and teacher Roger Spencer formed the best comedy team that never hit the road. In their routine, Charlie, African-American, and Roger, white, both claimed the same mother and different fathers. Their jokes flowed spontaneously, without rancor or racism, like seasoned performers. The first time I heard them, I understood that Charlie might be the janitor, but he didn’t lack intelligence. He provided levity for weary teachers. Charlie took care of our spirits.
He had as much honesty as humor and intelligence. Once, while cleaning, he found several hundred dollars hidden in the ceiling of the boys’ locker room. Charlie was wise enough not to tell what he found, but he listened. He soon learned one of the coaches had missed money from his truck. Charlie returned it to its rightful owner.
One day my freshman English class wrote in their journals on the topic: “Who is your hero?”
The opening line of one student’s paper said, “Charlie Spencer is my hero.”
Intrigued, I continued reading. The young man wrote that when times grew tough for his family, Charlie knew about it. Charlie and his wife purchased that young man school clothes and other necessities – on a custodian’s salary.
Later, I told Charlie about the paper. He quietly smiled and brushed it off as a small event in his life. He simply saw a need and met it, he said. But his eyes beamed.
As Atticus sat behind his newspaper, influencing Scout’s life, Charlie stood behind his broom. While he may not have provided for other teens like he did that young man, he often encouraged disadvantaged students to do their best. He cared about them.
As gentle as he was, Charlie did surprise me one day. A colleague, who had given verbal abuse to several faculty members that year, turned on Charlie one day. Most of the faculty bit their lips when this man approached, saying nothing. But Charlie, like Atticus, knew when to fight back. He stood before that man, shook his pocket and set an example. “I’ve got heart pills in here. Don’t you make me start popping them.” The man backed up, walked away and never bothered Charlie again.
Charlie served in Vietnam, but he never talked about it. Those years were better forgotten he said, but he wasn’t one of those vets who returned ashamed of their service. And he shouldn’t have been. I was proud to buy a VFW calendar from him every year. Charlie was my Atticus. He stood behind the scenes, ready to come forward when needed. His character was filled with kindness and integrity for everyone. He defended and cared for us in his post-military days as well as he did while he served. Charlie was not only my Atticus, he was everyone’s.
As I wrote this essay to enter it in The Big Read contest, I knew it needed to be about a local person. But which one? Even though I have met several in the last 11 years who have the qualities of Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird, I have to confess that I wasn’t sure about whom I should write. I prayed about it and within two days, all the little anecdotes in Charlie’s life were circling my mind. And so I wrote — and yes, hoped I might win. But I wrote mostly because Georgia Wentzel, president of Piedmont Writer’s group said, “We’re the writers of the community, ladies. We need to participate.” She was right, so I wrote. The thing I did not expect was the wonderful sense of community that resulted when I won. Charlie became even more of a local hero — a deserving tribute. Those of us who know him reminisced about those good days he was a part of our Magna Vista community and about the others who have retired from our presence. Charlie and those people set a high standard for us to follow that was one of meeting the needs of a whole person, not just academic needs. We remembered the ideals we held important and dedicated ourselves to them again.
