He Was An Inspiration To All

Charles Devall

Charles Devall, a church friend of mine, was recently interviewed for the Member Moments Oral History Project of Zachary United Methodist Church. Sadly, Charles lost his battle with brain cancer on September 7, 2015. He refused to let cancer define who he was or what he was cable of doing. He was blessed with a great Christian marriage of mutual love and respect. As a tribute to the admirable man Charles was, here is an excerpt from that oral history interview I conducted in April of this year.

"The values and beliefs I developed from attending Zachery United Methodist are honesty, faith, and the importance of following the teachings of the Bible. I learned the Gold Rule to treat others as I wanted them to treat me. I have lived my life by these values and beliefs.

I remember attending church in the wooden church. I enjoyed ringing the church bell by pulling on the rope. Robin Pope liked ringing the bell more than anyone. I also remember the church was not air-conditioned, and it got really hot inside during the summertime. Back then we had Sunday night church services too.

Charles smiled and said, “I have been blessed with a good life. I enjoyed working for Ethyl Corporation as a plant Electrical Supervisor between 1966 and 1985 when Ethyl shut down the Baton Rouge plant.” He continued to recall that he worked at other jobs after Ethyl but that was the job he enjoyed the most and still has friends and meaningful relationships from his years of working at Ethyl Corporation. He and Sherry meet former co-workers for dinner several times a year.

One of the more interesting things Charles told me was about his wedding day. “After he was dressed and about ready to go to the church, Chief of Police Pryor Browning came to the door and told me he had an important warrant to serve on me (His wife was our wedding planner.). He placed me into the rear seat of the police car and drove toward the church. As we were pulling onto Old Baker Road, a car went speeding by us. He told me to hold on he could not let someone go that fast without ticketing them. He caught the driver, gave him a ticket, and then we got to the church just in time for me to walk out into the sanctuary. Sherry was beautiful and we had a wonderful wedding. I don’t know how many grooms arrive at their wedding in a police car, but that is how I arrived at my wedding."

He had many stories that will now go untold.  He had a zest for life and loved to laugh and make others laugh. He was honest, dependable, pleasant to everyone and a man of great Christian character. Charles is gone from this earth but he is alive in our memories and I was blessed to have known him.