MORATTICO—Charles Edward Lanier, 90, died on November 28, 2017, after a brief illness.
He was born in Petersburg in 1927 and remained a “Petersburg native” all his life.
He was a gifted athlete and captained the Petersburg High School football team. He left high school in January, 1945, to join the U.S. Navy and served approximately two years on the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
Following his discharge he returned to Petersburg to finish high school. He played college football at Tennessee Wesleyan and Memphis State University where he earned his undergraduate degree.
He began his professional life at Brown and Williamson in Petersburg while he attended the University of Richmond where he earned his master’s in business management.
After graduation, he worked for Smithfield Foods and later moved to Fishersville where he began a long career with Hollister, Inc., a producer of medical equipment. He oversaw the opening of the Hollister production plant in Stuarts Draft and remained with the company as personnel manager of that plant. After retirement from Hollister he worked for Virginia Metalcrafters.
He later built a home in Moraticco, a riverfront village in Lancaster County in the Northern Neck, where he lived until his death.
Charles remained interested in football. He refereed high school games in Petersburg and became a well-known referee in the Fishersville-Waynesboro area. He maintained his Petersburg friendships and was a regular attendee at POGO (the Petersburg Old Geezers Organization), a gathering of Petersburg High School graduates.
In 1955, Charles married Yolanda Saladino of Petersburg. They had one daughter, Lynn Ann Lanier.
Charles was predeceased by his parents, Robert Homer Lanier Sr. and Frances Mason Tench; and by eight siblings, Kathleen, Martha, Robert Homer Jr., Sidney, Frances, Mary, Winfield (Winkie) and Henrietta; and also by a nephew, Stuart Covington Jr.
He is survived by his wife, Yolanda; daughter, Lynn and her husband, Denard Spady; sister-in-law, Jeanette Takesian; and by nieces and nephews, Betty Wilson, Gibson Dunn, Frances Hudson, Sidney Lanier, Steven Lanier, Mark Lanier, Christopher Lanier, Homer Lanier III, Tancy Mitchell, Charles Pegram Jr., Frank Pegram and Clinton Lanier, and their spouses and many children.
The family gathered for a private celebration of Charles’s long, productive life on Saturday, December 2. Arrangements for other services are pending.
The family requests that no flowers be sent. In respect for Charles’s love of animals, memorial donations may be made to the Animal Welfare League of Northern Neck, PO Box 975, White Stone, VA 22578.
The family is being served by the Petersburg Chapel of J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home. Condolences may be registered at www.jtmorriss.com.
