In his salmon-colored pants and crisp, white collared shirt, Charles Petty explained that the good Lord didn’t want him to give up Gin for Lent, so he went with Coke and Pepsi. Spending time with this wise 22-year-old feels like spending time with celebrity or royalty.
The waitress at the pizza restaurant asked him how his cold is coming along and the lunch lady asked how his exam went.
Every third person he asses, he knows some type of anecdote about their life.
“How’s that internship?”, he asked the guy sitting with a group of friends. “How’s your mother doing?”, he asks women in passing.
Charles tells the story about how he came to be who he was today. “It all started when Granny Martha brought me to the Crab Creek mall in Raleigh,” Charles said, “As soon as I saw the models on the cover of the Brooks Brothers store… I knew if I were to live like that, I’d be happy.”
From his fashion to his demeanor, Charles never greats a day without his southern pride, pleated pants and witty humor. He may be failing media law, but he is sure going to look good doing it.
Charles learned at a young age what it looked like to put nice clothes on, write a thank-you-card and embrace the hand that he was dealt. In his opinion, identifying with the past isn’t an option.
Given to his grandparents at 17-months, diagnosed with autism at 3-years-old and watched both of his parents die all before the age of 22.
Forced to be raised by his extended relatives due to his parent’s dysfunctional marriage, Charles knows what it feels like to be abandoned, but never saw it as a hindrance.
His grandmother recalls the rainy Monday night that she received the call from her son asking if they could keep Charles for the night. She never expected it would be for the rest of his life.
Charles with his grandmother.
“Raising Charles has been an adventure that has blessed us exponentially,” Mrs. Petty said. “We tried our hardest to create a place of stability for him when the world around him wasn’t.”
Charles said his grandparents “knew the business of raisin’ kids,” and always tried to normalize his life, making him never feel that he was any different from others.
“I got to be raised in a classic apple pie and holiday flag home,” said Charles. “That was something my parents could never give me.” He described his “Pappa” as being a James Dean, free spirit guy and his “Mamma” as the salt of the earth and believer of public education.
He said that his father had always been a “big brother” figure that came and went throughout his childhood. He speaks about his mother with admiration. He said he always knew his parents and never felt like a foster child, but rather a lucky kid with two sets of parents.
Charles with his father.
Today, his grandparents are his rocks. “I call them every night,” Charles said. “If they don’t hear from me before 10 p.m., I know I’ll be gettin’ a call from Campus Security.”
His mother has been deceased for three years now and his father passed away in November of 2017.
“When I received the cremation papers for my father’s body, the Elon staff said that was the first time they’d faxed that kind of document to a student,” said Charles. “I know that I have had a different story than other Elon students, but I am thankful for that, it gives me good perspective.”
The moment Charles found himself barring his mother, miserable at his small University and with visually not real friendships, he had to make a decision.
“At that moment I realized that if things don’t go your way, you’ve got to just mentally get through it.”
Charles with his parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Petty said at a young age they got Charles tested for learning disabilities and found out he had high functioning autism. In their minds, this would mean Charles would need to go to a more hands-on school and would always be different from other children. But for Charles, this has been an opportunity to embrace his differences and never be defined by his challenges.
When asked how Charles has been able to cope with his parent’s death, his grandparents explained that he was the one that planned his father’s funeral. “The hymn he chose was something I would have never chosen, but it fit his father so well,” Mrs. Petty said. “These things tend to hit Charles later, but he does tend to handle it better than the average person.
Charles’ hall mates explain how living with him is the highlight of their college experience thus far.
“I keep my door unlocked just so Charles can come hang out with me whenever he wants,” Hall Mate Melania Hills said. “I feel like Charles is meant to stand out and he definitely does in our hall and that’s why I love him.”
She explained how Charles tends to be open with people in his hall, but they are always shocked at how he is always positive and hopeful.
“He has been through so much,” Hall Mate Claire Bowles said. “But he teaches us all how to be positive and look for the good in every situation.”
The two girls agree that they have been able to rely on Charles and he has been someone they can talk about their good and bad days with.
Relying on people and having quality relationships has been what made Charles fall in love with Elon. Having attended two colleges prior, he knows that this is where he belongs.
When thinking back to his other school, St. Andrews College, he relates the experience to that of a nursing home. “Its true,” said Charles. “My communications professor commuted form the local nursing home…. It was a much different environment than Elon.”
The major draw to Elon: Broadcast and Communications.
Charles immediately began his radio show at WSOE, the local radio, where he now does a show every Tuesday afternoon.
Through the past year, Charles has slowly watched his father deteriorated, but for him, radio was always his escape.
Communications Professor Glenn Scott paints the scene of his classroom with Charles sitting the closest to the teacher’s desk every single morning.
“I came in knowing that I would for sure be greeted by Charles and I would greet him,” Scott said. “He is an easy person to talk to and I always looked forward to hearing what he had to say.”
Scott mentioned that not a day went by when Charles didn’t compliment him on his attire and he always looked forward to his contributions to the class.
“He’s truly a delightful person,” Scott said. “He is just fascinating because of his uniqueness.”
Scott commended Charles for his maturity while facing the death of his father and was impressed with the way he continued to connect with students.
“He just has a spirit about him,” Scott said. “People see that authencity and migrate towards it.”
Scott looks forward to hearing from Charles in the future and knows he will have a successful life.
“I have a lot of respect for how he has guided himself through life,” said Scott.
For a listen to Charles Petty, check out this podcast.
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