‘I care about people and to help those less fortunate,’ McPherson says
Most of Charlotte’s childhood was spent in small-town USA. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Growing up, she enjoyed life with three older brothers and an older sister. She says she was glad to be the youngest. The others had to do housework and look after her. Later she had to join in and help, too. Her favorite house chore is ironing, during which she has time to think and meditate. Charlotte shared a secret that she hasn’t revealed to many people. In fourth grade, she was chosen from the entire student body to be Miss Boone Park. That is the name of her elementary school. Her peers selected a boy and a girl from each class before the Parent Teacher Association made the final choice. “It seems my tap dancing won their hearts,” she says.
Charlotte’s three older brothers are seen in this file photo.
“I grew up in a city where in 1954 integration was being introduced at Central High School. Before that date, blacks and whites had to go to different schools. For the first 10 years of my life, my childhood memories include scenes of my hometown, where the riots and protests against integration were violent. My mother taught us that every person deserves to be treated with respect,” says Charlotte.
Charlotte, aged 10 years old, when she was chosen Miss Boon Park.
Up until the age of 10, Charlotte lived across the street from her grandparents. From an early age, she loved riding her bicycle and waving at them every time she passed their front porch after circling the block. Then her family moved to a house on the lake in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where she enjoyed five blissful years of swimming, boating and water skiing. When she turned 15 she experienced her first culture shock. She moved from a small town, Hot Springs, Arkansas, to a big city, Houston, Texas. She had previously attended a high school with 150 students; now the student population at her new high school topped 1,000. Learning to make friends and navigate her way in a large city and a big school was a challenge.
One of the two things that Charlotte really appreciates about her mother is that she taught her sons how to cook and do the house chores. “In Turkish culture this is not so common,” she says disappointedly.
The other thing is that her mum always taught her children to strive to do what they wanted to with their lives and encouraged them in whatever possible.
If you read Charlotte’s column regularly you will know that she loves to end with a quote. A favorite quote Charlotte shared with me is one by C.S. Lewis: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” It would be hard to guess that Charlotte is in her 60s. She lives a full life and strikes me as a person who is at peace and knows contentment, although still has much to do.
Charlotte, together with her family members and mother (L).
Her grandmothers and mother were her role models. One grandmother, at a time when women were not encouraged to have careers, was a professional photographer for a well-known upscale department store and won many awards. Her other grandmother was a traditional housewife who raised a house full of children and was a super cook. These women instilled in Charlotte a good work ethic and encouraged her to live her dreams, respect others and show fairness in everything she does.
Charlotte reminisced how, as a child, she went through a short phase of a few months wishing that she had brown eyes rather than blue. She said she often prayed that Jesus would change her eye color and was disappointed when it never happened. Now she is glad she still has blue eyes.
First visit to Turkey in 1979 completely changed her life
In 1979 Charlotte began to live out her dream to travel. She visited Turkey for the first time. She came by car with five other foreign women from Europe. They camped in Florya on the European side of the city. “The next summer we returned and traveled to Ephesus, Cappadocia and Antalya,” she said. Charlotte is glad that she visited these wonderful sites when they were still very natural and undeveloped.
Charlotte fell in love with Turkish culture and found the centuries of rich history fascinating. Like most people, Charlotte enjoyed the sea and sand of the Turkish Riviera and ancient Biblical ruins in Anatolia. She returned in mid-September 1980 with the intention to study Turkish at Middle East Turkish University (ODTÜ) in Ankara. Her plans were made, but did not happen. She had only been back in the country for a few days when she found herself, along with everyone else in Turkey, confined to the four walls of her home. She could not help but wonder what she had gotten herself into. The date was Sept. 12, 1980 — a day she says she will never forget. As the military coup led by Gen. Kenan Evren gripped the nation, the nation woke up to news announcements ordering citizens to “Stay in your home” and “Do not go outside!”
By 1981, the metaphorical fog had eased enough for her to move to İstanbul and enroll at İstanbul University to study Turkish and to audit classes in the department of Turkish history. Most of Charlotte’s life has been spent either as a student, an instructor or both. Her first job began in 1981 when she taught at the Turk American University Association for five years and where she later — from 2000 to 2005 — served as vice president on the board.
In 1996, Charlotte decided to retire from teaching and opened an English bookstore, Greenhouse. Marion James and Charlotte, both dual nationals, own and manage the bookstore.
A book inspired her to be a writer
Charlotte is also an author who has penned several books. While at university, “The Problem of Pain” by C.S. Lewis influenced Charlotte’s life. She found the book helpful when grappling with the issue of pain and suffering in the world. Lewis provided for her an intellectual Christian response to questions about suffering and how to reconcile pain and suffering with her Christian belief in a just, loving and omnipotent God.
“I have always been concerned about certain issues such as injustice, pain and the suffering of those less fortunate such as humans and animal abuse. I had written for academic periodicals while doing my research but I wanted to write a couple of books on women and identity, and pain and suffering. This required a more readable style. The titles are: ‘Woman: Identity & Relationships’ and ‘Lord Why?’,” she noted.
Alongside a group of people in her neighborhood, Charlotte also helped Syrian refugees who entered Turkey after fleeing from the Syrian civil war, which started in 2011 and has left thousands of people dead.
“We have regularly sent clothing, baby clothes and baby food since last September. Each month we send stuff worth $2,000–3,000,” she explained.
“We try to help people who were doing OK but through no fault of their own — not because they are lazy or don’t want to work — are now facing a bad situation. They didn’t make that situation, but circumstances happened and, like in Syria, they are in that situation now. We helped with the earthquake in İzmit; I was here when the earthquake happened in İzmit in 1999. When Van had an earthquake in 2011, we sent books to the schools to help, to rebuild their libraries. We donated Turkish and English books for the library. We have always wanted to do what we could to help make it a better world,” she added.
Charlotte shared a closing thought about her upbringing: “I am thankful that my parents and grandparents taught me that we were all born to stand out in our own unique way. Every culture, to some degree, places certain expectations on individuals, some more so than others.” A quote that has stuck with her since childhood is one by Dr. Seuss: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
About five years ago, while traveling in America on a speaking tour, Charlotte had some complications with her heart and had to be rushed to the emergency room. She later returned to Turkey and received excellent medical care back in İstanbul. She is fine now but the incident has made her think more about her health and the need to take care of herself. She loves swimming and walking her three cocker spaniels.
She relaxes by reading Turkish writers such as Elif Şafak, Orhan Pamuk and others. On cooking Turkish meals, she said: “I once tried to make a Turkish dish for my Turkish friends. And when they came to my home and I served the Turkish dish, they tasted it and said: ‘We had something like this in Turkey!’ So I decided I would never cook Turkish food for Turks. I think I like cooking Italian dishes. And I love to make Mexican food.”
