Mr. Kemp was born January 23, 1930, in Holly Springs, Miss., to Annie Faye Kemp and Felt Wickes. He moved to Amarillo at a young age. He attended Patton-Douglas School until he enlisted into the U.S. Army in 1946. During his tenure in the Army, he served in Japan, post-World War II, as well as stateside.

Upon his return from the Army, Charles began a 36-year career with Santa Fe Railroad as a yardman. He also had worked for the bus station. His post-Army career included working for more than 40 years for the Shelton Family, Novie Woods family and Stinnett Family Ranch at Nara Visa, N.M., as a cook, chauffeur and house manager.

Charles was a horse trainer and often shared his story of how every Friday he would take off to Raton, N.M., to the racetrack and this continued for 25 years during horse racing time.

In spite of his many jobs for compensation, Charles found time to be a community activist out of love for his community. Anyone acquainted with Charles knows that if his name is on the membership roster, that the organization had one person who worked the equivalence of four people.

His first organizational love was his involvement with the Masons, Blue Lodge, where he earned his 33rd Degree, and the Shriners, Ozark Temple No. 146, rising to the positions of Imperial Deputy of the Desert and Potentate. Charles served and diligently worked with the committee to establish and build the Amarillo Citizen Forum; he was on the board of directors and was a lifetime member. He was a member of the NAACP and served on the scholarship committee with AISD and Amarillo College for district 79107 children.

Charles and his culinary talents can be attested to by thousands of visitors to Bones Hooks Park during Juneteenth celebrations, where he barbecued hundreds of briskets for the free barbecue dinners for numerous years. He elicited his many friends for donations from the briskets to the barbecue pit from Cattle Call.

Charles loved his family, and he loved to travel, cook and beautify his home with flowers and life in general.

Charles began his journey back to Christ at St. John Baptist Church. He led the charge for the building fund for this beautiful new church, serving on the finance committee until he moved to Amarillo Bible Fellowship. At ABF, he was an excellent resource person for the church bylaws. He was a committed and dedicated brother in Christ.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his stepfather, Arnold McGilbray; a daughter, Cynthia Kemp; two sons, Charles E. Kemp Jr. and Michael Anthony Kemp; a sister, Mary Francis Baldwin; and a grandson, Ronald Kemp.

Survivors include his loving, nurturing soulmate, his beautiful wife of 56 years, Loraine; a daughter, Brenda Overstreet Galloway of Amarillo; a brother, Arnold McGilbray Jr. of San Francisco; a sister, Eleanor Wickes of Toledo, Ohio; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law whom he reared, Ludell Hill and Tina Ashley; and a host of brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.