Charles Alexander Fox

Charles Alexander Fox of The Pines in Davidson died on April 3rd, 2026. He passed suddenly just as we all would wish to go. He would like very much for you to know that he achieved his last goal of winning his 100th medal in the Senior Games including 7 in track and field six days before passing. His daughters may have thought he was bragging too much but now that he is gone it is a life lesson in never giving up and finding a way to remain inspiring to the youngsters.

Charles was born in his beloved hometown of Morganton, NC in the foothills of Burke County to Charles Alexander Fox, WWI veteran and lumber mill owner, and Beuna Tinsley Fox, a calculus teacher and one of the first children to be housed and educated by the selfless Dr. Mary Sloop (daughter of a Davidson College professor) and her husband Dr. Eustace Sloop founders of the Crossnore School for Children in Avery County in the early 1900s. Together the Drs Sloop brought food, education, clothing, medicine and even roads to the isolated and poor in the NC mountains. Dr. Mary Sloop was national Mother of the Year in 1951 and wrote the book Miracle in the Hills. Crossnore still provides for children in myriad circumstances today.

Charles earned a degree in Textile Engineering from NC State and later an MBA from the University of South Carolina. He did not test well and had to appeal in person for admission and then became one of the best MBA students in his class. Never giving up. By then he had gotten used to having dreams way beyond his family’s means. His perseverance was honed during a childhood in the Great Depression while simultaneously having his dear mother an inpatient in Broughton Hospital for bipolar illness when there was no treatment. He always disliked the word ‘crazy’ after enduring taunts over his mother’s circumstances. Somehow he pulled himself up by his non-existent bootstraps to play all the sports at Morganton High School and place 2nd in NC in high jump never with a parent in attendance, write the high school plays and star in them and create voluminous amounts of original art – all while trying to hide the holes in his shoes and T shirts. Never giving up.

Dad recalled Western NC adventures like when his dad was a deputy sheriff charged with ‘bustin’ up stills’ during Prohibition and taking 10 year old “Bud” (Dad) along to hold the shotgun on the moonshiners from the hill above while our granddad circled around to take them by surprise. He remembered camping on the flat rocks in the middle of the river in Linville Gorge where at least one the boys dropped their paper bag of rations and matches in the rushing water and having the best sledding hill outside the house where all the kids with new sleds wanted to ride his superfast bent metal improvisation.

Dad held every possible textile manufacturing job in the two Carolinas from the 1960s to the 1990s starting with Assistant Plant Manager up to Vice President of Manufacturing at Hanes and Carter’s Baby clothes. He and Mom moved 22 times. He opened some of the last textile mills built in the US (in NC) toward the end of his career before all the work went overseas.

Dad married one of the stair-step Ramseur girls down the street, Willa Dean, and loved her for 59 years til her passing. Thanks to his oldest sister, Lucy, who gave Dad a choice of art lessons or dance lessons as a boy, Dad was a prolific, mostly self- taught artist and a terrible dancer. He had an easel set up in our dining room always --art saved his sanity and might have saved his life. He painted (192 paintings just during his retirement), carved, did stamp art (mosaics from postage stamps) and nail art, built bird houses and miniature furniture replicas of NC-made pieces, made greeting cards and fashioned purses out of lavishly embellished cigar boxes. He made a working loom you can hold in your two hands.

He had just bought a new wardrobe to go with his plan to make 117 years which he told friends was entirely scientifically possible at age 93 1/2. He was never late, always knew what day it was, handled his own finances, read the Wall Street Journal and drove himself out of town when he felt like it. Even so, this engineer had to laugh at his lapse after telling us with all seriousness that the elevators were conveniently located in the same spot on every floor at The Pines.

Charles leaves behind his daughters, Kimberly Fox and Angela Fox, each of Huntersville, to marvel at his endurance and hope they have some of what he had. He also leaves a number of nieces and nephews. In lieu of a service and to honor his life, most of his art is left to The Pines of Davidson for their charitable endeavors. Moving to The Pines, a Continuing Care Retirement Community, at age 83 was one of the best decisions of his life, such are the enormous blessings of healthcare, great friends, outstanding staff and the wonderful last chapter they provide. Memorials to help others in never giving up may be made to The Crossnore Communities for Children, Crossnore.org. Crossnore, NC. We are very grateful.

Raymer-Kepner Funeral Home & Cremation Services is caring for the family.  Memories and condolences may be shared at www.KepnerFH.com