Remarks at Charla's Funeral by Dr. Shirley, Headmaster of Healthwood Hall
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.
==========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.