These are pictures from Charley’s high school yearbooks. Charley was born in 1963, so he would have been in high school in the late 70’s. He told me he was very shy in high school. He was shy his entire life.
This is the first picture I ever saw of Charley. He is so young and cute dressed up in his jacket and tie. This was when he was still young and working as a tax preparer. He was good at numbers but his heart was not in it. He wanted to be something else.
Charley loved baking, especially making cakes. He trained to be a professional baker and worked as a pastry chef in a fancy hotel for several years. Here he is in his apron and chef’s hat. Even after he stopped working as a chef, he still loved making cakes for his family on birthdays and holidays.
Charley had an artistic streak and loved flowers. He would decorate his cakes with flowers he and his mother grew in their backyard.
This is a picture of Charley’s back yard. He told me he planted his garden himself. Impressive.
Charley liked things to be pretty and colorful. Not only did he grow flowers outside, he liked to decorate the inside of the house too. His favorite holiday was Christmas. He kept his tree up from Thanksgiving through Chinese New Year, covered with lots of festive decorations that he loved.
One way in which Charley expressed his artistic and creative qualities was though online video games. He hated anything violent; that was abhorrent to him. He expressed himself by creating beautiful things. He particularly like games that let him build beautiful reefs, creative cityscapes, and lovely cafes for his online guest.
This is the final café that he was building. He would hide a little white kitty in the café and challenge me to find the kitty. I had to get my magnifying glass out and search for her. Charley’s kitty, even if imaginary, was always a girl. He was allergic and could not keep a kitty of his own.
Charley loved keeping fish. He spent a lot of time caring for them and keeping their aquarium clean and beautiful. One of his great joys was going to the pet store to get supplies to care for his beloved fish.
c. e. hammock 