For many years, Charlie Atkinson, L10327, was a highly successful educator who impacted the lives of countless children. He could have rested on those laurels.
Instead, in retirement, he used his gifts — his professionalism; his talent as a visionary and strategic thinker; and his warm, friendly nature — for the betterment of FMCA.
“That became his second career,” said Anne Laun, the oldest of Charlie and Marcia Atkinson’s four children. “(My parents) enjoyed it so much.”
Charles R. Atkinson, who was FMCA national president from 1998 to 2001, died March 29, 2020. The southwestern Ohio resident was 86.
“Charlie was a very outgoing person who was not only a great leader but the head cheerleader for FMCA,” said Darrell Gilliland, former national vice president, South Central Area.
Before being elected president, Charlie served as FMCA national senior vice president from 1993 to 1996 and as national vice president, Great Lakes Area, from 1988 to 1992. He also served on various FMCA committees.
Charlie was a native of Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. He received his doctorate in school administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. For most of his career, he worked for Princeton City Schools, a district in the Cincinnati, Ohio, metropolitan area. His jobs ranged from assistant band director to high school principal.
Affable and friendly, he connected easily with students. “I think that’s what made him such a great teacher,” Anne said. “He listened really well, and really cared about kids.”
While camping, he showed that same fondness for people. “Whenever we went into a campground, he would make the rounds to get to know everybody who was camped around us. Always did that,” Anne said.
Charlie and Marcia met as freshmen at Ohio University. She, too, became a teacher. As educators with modest incomes and four children, they saved money while on vacation by avoiding hotels, instead setting out each year in a station wagon pulling a camper. “My sisters, brother, and I saw the whole country via those travels,” Anne said.
During a trip to Colorado, Marcia spotted a box-like vehicle, which was the first motorhome she’d seen. She told Charlie they should get one. After they did, their insurance agent, Virgil Lovitt, who was an FMCA member, encouraged them to join the organization.
“(Charlie) was a visionary person, and he could develop a plan to accomplish that vision,” Anne said. “That’s one of the things he brought to FMCA.”
Indeed, in 1999, while serving as FMCA national president, Charlie formed the Long-Range Planning Committee. His planning skills also were invaluable in preparing for FMCA’s largest-ever convention, which drew 7,422 motorhomes to Brunswick, Maine, in August 2000.
Charlie and Marcia enjoyed motorhoming so much, they rented coaches to tour England, Scotland, and New Zealand. And while serving FMCA, the Atkinsons “were gone six or seven months of the year in the motorhome, and they would travel to different parts of the country to see everybody,” Anne said. “All the people they got to meet, that was real important for both of them.”
Charlie, ever the musician, always brought along his clarinet. He performed with the Frustrated Maestros every chance he got. At one time he was a member of eight such FMCA chapters.
Model railroading was another of Charlie’s passions, one for which he earned the coveted title of Master Model Railroader. At home, he constructed detailed layouts that took up half of the basement. When he and Marcia acquired a large enough motorhome, he built an N-scale model railway, designed to resemble a small, rural 1950s-1960s town in Ohio’s Hocking River Valley. He secured it in an exterior storage compartment for travel. When parked at a campground, Charlie delighted in sliding out his railroad display for admiring guests.
But it’s Charlie and Marcia’s kindness that Mr. Gilliland won’t forget. He recalled a time when FMCA meetings were held in Cincinnati just before Thanksgiving, which meant he and his wife, Grace, as well as Ed and Pat Ruese, would not have time to drive home for the holiday.
“Knowing we would be alone, Charlie and Marcia invited us to spend the day in their home with their extended families. There was already a houseful, but they insisted the four of us join them. We left late in the evening to return to our coaches, feeling we had spent the day with family.”
Charlie is survived by his wife, Marcia; children Anne, Keith, Jill, and Kay; a sister, Carolyn; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.