Charlotte Fairchild
“My calling is to bring beauty into this world.”
Peace is important to Charlotte because most of her male ancestors for the last three hundred years have fought in battles and lost limbs or suffered health problems. Women ancestors bore too much of the burden alone during the absence of the warriors. She says, “Peace is transforming tumult into temperance,” and she is proud to report that, as of 2007, none of her relatives are in military service. Growing up in several places as a military child, Charlotte has witnessed the destabilizing effects of war on family life. The Civil Rights Era awakened the spirit of activism in Charlotte as she was particularly moved by the struggle for desegregation.
Charlotte was trained and ordained with a Masters of Divinity, but while her passion as a volunteer was applauded, when she pursued chaplain positions, she found that less-qualified male applicants were hired instead. “There weren't enough people who wanted to make a change where I lived and breathed.” She became disenchanted with the established practices of her profession, so she currently continues her calling as an “amateur” but fully-qualified minister. Her interest in integrating spiritual practice with peace activism comes from her realization that “if things were better, there would be no need for transformation, and with the need for transformation comes creativity.”
Charlotte has had numerous “quasi-professions and sometimes-paid passions” such as selling plants and flowers and making and selling tea cozies at farmers' markets. She writes poetry and books, she paints, and she teaches voice and piano. Since the days of Bear Bryant's athletes, she has enjoyed tutoring, and she has served in that capacity to a range of professionals from foreign intelligentsia. She also enjoys editing, being interviewed and interviewing for newspapers, performing and public speaking, and marketing the artist Florence Seymour's free book. For decades, she has been a fertility consultant, and she has written one devotional book in that field. Charlotte’s current interests include kudzu, singing, writing, and life coaching. She is married and loves her husband and her dog.
