My name is Marshall James.

Dr. J. Robert Shirley served as Headmaster of Heathwood Hall Episcopal School from 1977-2000. Charles asked him to deliver the eulogy today, but unfortunately he was not able to be here.  Instead, Dr. Shirley asked me to deliver his remarks.

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A proper goodbye to Charla Tolbert McMillian is a difficult thing for me to think and speak.  Fare forward is better than goodbye to this woman who influenced so many lives and gave so much health, well-being and joy to the world.  

I met Charla in the late 70’s and worked with her at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School from 1978 until she graduated in 1981. She and I went to a conference at the Kanuga Conference Center in 1981 to discuss the integration of African American Students into the world of independent schools. It was a great time for our school, and Charla’s participation in the conference was a matter of pride for Heathwood. She was an outstanding and well-spoken part of the meeting.

We had a great relationship during her years as a student as she led the student body as a class officer and in so many ways on the athletic fields, the debate team, and in the classroom. She always had a smile on her face and was seemingly on top of the world.

Charla was the first graduate of Heathwood Hall to be admitted to an Ivy League school when she attended Dartmouth in the fall of 1981.

After graduation, she joined the Officer Candidate Corps of the U.S. Marine Corps and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant.

I had followed the same course many years earlier, and it was appropriate for me to send her my second lieutenant bars when she graduated at Quantico.

Charla served the United States and the U.S. Marine Corps well, earning the rank of Captain.

I too was a Captain when I finished my tour with the Marines, so I am giving her brother a Marine Officers Dress emblem, and a Captain’s Bar. [GIVE GIFT]

The gift is heartfelt for this beautiful young woman, beautiful in every way --- simper fi and “oorah” to Charla in our temporary goodbye.

The world was better off for your being here. Charla Tolbert McMillian ---you were a friend, scholar, leader, athlete, entrepreneur, musician, and Marine.

We love you always.

Charla was laid to rest on December 14, 2020.  The program for her service can be downloaded here.

**This story was written by Charla in 2010**

Since 1997 I have been teaching couch potatoes, housewives, executives, competitive athletes, students, law enforcement and military candidates nation-wide to eat better, train smarter, and realize their physique and performance potential. As a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), I bring the credentials of one of only a handful of nationally accredited certifying organizations for fitness professionals to my work as a personal trainer and owner of FitBoot- Basic Training for Professionals, the best authentic boot camp fitness training anywhere.

But the story began much earlier.

In high school, I competed on the boys’ varsity cross-country team.  Though I’ve never developed any particular passion for distance running, my beloved South Carolina prep school was too small at the time to field either a girls’ track team or a girls’ cross-country, so I ran on the boys’ cross country team.  During that time, I also developed a love for improving my strength with resistance training in the gym and worked my power with interval sprints before and after cross-country practice.

Then I went to college where I did not join a sports team but enjoyed new academic pursuits, an active social life, and the misguided belief that I could keep eating whatever I wanted and occasionally play some recreational games.  And I put on the “Freshman 25”!Without structured team practice and my mom’s balanced meals, I rapidly spiraled downward.

So I got back to the gym.  I began to read whatever I could get my hands on about fitness training and physique improvement.  I hit the track as I had in high school.  I stopped going back for seconds and thirds, late night pizza, and cider and doughnuts at Dartmouth’s bountiful dining halls.  And I regained my athletic physique.

Soon my young friends were seeking my advice on training routines and techniques.  And we all looked and felt a great deal better.

After graduating college, I spent three fantastic months clarifying my thoughts, singing for my supper in the streets of Paris, and brainstorming career ideas.  I came to the conclusion that I wanted to work in a field where both physical prowess and mental acuity were daily requirements. When I returned to the States, I called the local U.S. Marine Corps recruiter and announced that I wanted to be an officer.  Research at my college’s career services center had shown me that the Corps offered my ideal balance: a job that demanded both brains and brawn, a legacy of the highest standards in both presentation and performance, and an established reputation as the best in the world at all that they do.

I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on December 9, 1996.The next year, after completing training at The Basic School, Quantico, Virginia, I shipped out to my duty station at the Intelligence Analysis Unit for the First Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, CA for the proudest two-and-a-half years of my young life.  I wore the uniform of the World’s Finest.  I dutifully studied and learned and briefed the Division, Base, and subordinate unit Commanders on tactical threat levels, military capabilities, and likely response to proposed military actions.  I also supplemented my duties as military leader and mentor for my troops with time spent as their fitness trainer as well.

Every Marine unit’s professional performance reflects on the guidance and capabilities of its leaders.  Military intelligence units often experience a reputation as having more brain but less brawn than their more field-ready counterparts. For a Marine, that’s not a good thing.  So I set out to ensure that the Marines in the Intelligence Unit performed as well on the athletic field as they did in the briefing rooms.

I taught the men and women in my unit how to build flexibility, strength, and endurance along with good research, writing, and presentation skills.  And I insisted on proper exercise technique along with proper rest, recovery and good nutrition. I was proud of the results: consistently high fitness marks for my Marines and top physical fitness test honors for myself. I even scored perfectly on events then reserved for men, performing 80 sit-ups in two minutes and 20 pull-ups.

I left active duty in 1990 to get my Juris Doctor at Boston University School of Law.  While I studied, I stayed physically active as the weekend supervisor at a local gym.  All the while, I entertained the idea of starting a military-style exercise program for civilians.  Over the next seven years, I constantly heard the same reaction from new fiends and acquaintances as they learned of my service background: “Wow, Marine Corps! I wish I could get in that kind of shape!” So in 1997, I created a way for civilians to get Marine-quality results – and FitBoot was born.

I earned my law degree because I found the study of law, like intelligence analysis, interesting and useful. I find my work as a fitness trainer, like the time I spent in a Marine Corps uniform, rewarding as a job that requires “mens sana in corpore sano”, a sound mind in a sound body.

I have earned my NSCA certification and have personally trained hundreds of civilians by balancing common military basic training drills and command-voice discipline with professional accepted strength and conditioning guidelines. And it works. So let’s get you on the program!