William Roberts Gilmore, better known as "Charlie" to friends and family alike, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on March 26 ^th, 1922. He was the third child and first born son of William H. Gilmore Jr, of Bedford, Virginia and Corinne Roberts Gilmore, of Lynchburg.

Charlie developed a strong sense of responsibility at an early age and while still in elementary school, appointed himself chaperone to his older sisters, taking the initiative to follow them home from school each day so he could report back to their parents whenever any of his sisters' male classmates tried to talk to them or walk them home from school! That was the beginning of an avid penchant that he would carry into adulthood with family members that he cared deeply about!

As a teenager, Charlie worked as a caddie at the Boonsboro Country Club Golf Course. Charlie was popular in high school and was elected an officer of his senior class. After graduating from Dunbar High School, Charlie served in the US Army Air Corps during WWII. While serving, he distinguished himself by saving his captain from drowning. In another instance, he was hospitalized for several months with serious injuries sustained while saving another soldier from a fiery plane crash.

Following his discharge from the Army, he seized upon a benefit of the 1944 G.I. Bill, and enrolled at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, SC and later at Virginia State College in Petersburg, VA.

During his college years, Charlie became an avid tennis player who competed with some success. In college, his innate head for business, coupled with an uncanny sense for sniffing out the slightest prospect of opportunity, led him to utilize a remaining Quonset hut on the campus grounds, where he opened his first business venture, a student canteen & grill that he named "Sporty' s", after the nickname his friends had given him. Needless to say, with no shortage of hungry students on campus, it became a resounding success! In years to come, most would agree that the moniker fit him perfectly, for he was daily seen about town looking very dapper while driving the latest model year Cadillac, his signature "ride".

Charlie maintained his popularity in college and was once again elected as an officer in his senior class. After earning a degree in Business Administration in 1948, Charlie returned home to Lynchburg and opened several businesses including "Charlie's Billiards" at 910 Fifth Street and "Charlie's Restaurant", also on Fifth Street, next to the Harrison Theatre. These successes were followed shortly by other enterprising business ventures.

Real estate investing became a passion for Charlie and he ventured into appraising houses as well. He was honored some years later, to have a street named after him (Gilmore Circle), in tribute to his development accomplishments in the city.

Again sensing a burgeoning opportunity, Charlie became a serious promoter for top black entertainers, and the pioneer musicians and groups that are venerated all over the world today. He rented the Lynchburg Armory and other venues throughout Virginia and nearby North Carolina to showcase their talents. These events provided a few hours of welcomed distraction from the shared restrictions still common in the South at that time. Wanting to mitigate some of the indignity and privations associated with travel for black musicians on the "Chitlin' Circuit", and to enhance Lynchburg's reputation as a must-play stop on their tours, Charlie opened a "colored" tourist home in Lynchburg.

Charlie was a Lifetime member of the NAACP and staunch supporter of its many initiatives, such as desegregating Lynchburg's city schools. He served on the Lynchburg Interracial Committee from 1970 – 1982 and the Equalization Board from May 1977 to June 1989. He was a long-standing member of the Elks Lodge and a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He was also a generous donor to area hospitals.

Charlie was a longtime member and supporter of the Eighth Street Baptist Church, having been baptized there at an early age with the encouragement of his mother, who was herself, one of the founding members of the church. Charlie also served on the city tax planning board and became the first black member of the Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce.

Charlie was unique for the times and blessed in his ability to work around the strictures of race, even transcending them at times, to move in rarified circles of influence. He was a longtime friend and college roommate of former Governor Doug Wilder and a childhood friend of the Reverend Jerry Falwell. The two often played together as boys outside Jerry's father's restaurant where Charlie's father worked as a chef for a time. The two men met again late in life, for what would be the last time, reminiscing together on their long association, with Jerry remarking about their blessings and just how far they both had come in life.

Charlie didn't turn his back on others in their time of need, sometimes to the dismay of his mother, who tired of the many calls they received to their home at all hours of the night and day, from those who found themselves in hasty need of a loan to post bond.

Putting aside his savvy business acumen, Charlie was foremost, the patriarch of the family. He assumed that mantle long before the death of his father, who had been long incapacitated by illness. No mother ever had, a more devoted son. Charlie took his family on perennial summer vacations to Atlantic City, which was replaced by Myrtle Beach in later years. He loved to travel and tried hard to spoil his mother, Corinne, with yearly cruises abroad, which were often shared with his siblings and their families. He tried in vain to convince his mother to move to a more upscale home that he had purchased as a surprise for her, but in the end, remained with her in the 7 ^th Street home of his birth, when she refused to leave the neighborhood she loved.

Family gatherings were cheery affairs with everyone repairing to the front porch to catch cool breezes in the summer evening air. Those evenings invariably culminated with indulging Charlie's love for playing cards. After his young nieces and nephews were tucked away upstairs for the night, the adults found themselves heartily engaged downstairs in rounds of Tonk and keenly waging quarter bets to spice up the excitement and thrill of winning!

Charlie's love, dedication and abiding care for those who knew and loved him best make his passing all the more deeply felt.

He is survived by his brother, Odell Gilmore of Lynchburg, VA, and his nieces and nephews: Harold Graves of Las Vegas, NV; Cassandra Wright of Chicago, IL; Jean Weir of Indian Land, SC; Ida Morris of Fort Myers, FL; Melvina Francis of Atlanta, GA; Dr. Robert Morris of Kampala, Uganda; Brinda Gilmore of Bladensburg, MD; Gary Morris of Rancho Cucamonga, CA; Melvin Gilmore Jr of Lynchburg, VA; and devoted cousins: Minnie Gilmore Henry of Lynchburg, VA; Bernetta Henry also of Lynchburg, VA; and many grandnieces; grandnephews; great nieces and great nephews too numerous to name.

A funeral service will be held 2:00 PM Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at Eight Street Baptist Church with Pastor, Rev. Steven Smith and Dr. Carl B. Hutcherson, as eulogist. The interment will be in the Baptist Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to www.Davis-Turner.com .   Service of comfort rendered by Davis-Turner Funeral Service.