June 14, 1927 — February 13, 2017
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Charlotte was the oldest of 11 children. She excelled in school and was one of the few Blacks attending the University of Minnesota. Receiving her Associate’s degree in 1945, she went on to write for two newspapers, the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder, both now merged as the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Charlotte later moved to Washington, D.C. in 1952 to work for the U.S. Naval Department. She later started a business with her husband called Inter-City Trash Removal.
Those who treasure her memory include her four children, Eric Lloyd Bower (D.C.), Voni Lyn Bower Eason (MD), Kevin Charles Bower (GA), and Joi Maere Bower (MD); six grandchildren; one great grandchild; and siblings Joan Thompson (MN), Archela Cobb (MN), Gene Perteet (CA), Duane Perteet (MN), Antionette Kennedy (MN), Renee Brown (DC), Rickie Perteet (ND), Darryl Perteet (PA), Cheryl Perteet (MN), and Karon Sanigular (MN).
Charlotte was preceded in death by her loving husband Veronza Bower, her parents, grandparents, an aunt and two brothers-in-law.
Her final resting place is in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. Let her final goodbye be the closing line of her newspaper stories: “Charlotte, of course.”
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I Miss You Mom
I thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new. I thought of you yesterday, and days before that too. I think of you in silence, I often speak your name. All I have are memories, and your picture in a frame. Your memory is my keepsake, with which I’ll never part. God has you in his keeping, I have you in my heart. Since you left me, my life on earth has been a living Hell. I love you Mom and miss you to the moon and back. Give Dad a big kiss from me. Happy Anniversary in Heaven you two.