Charles Edward Anderson (1919-1994), was born August 13, 1919, in Clayton, Missouri. His mother and father were from Mississippi. Charles grew up on a farm, but enjoyed art museums, gardens, the zoo, and theater. He enjoyed read-ing and spent most of his after-noons reading books. An older boy gave him over one hundred books. After moving to the city, Charles spent his free time in the public library. In high school he loved science and in 1937, graduated from Sumner High as valedictorian, the smartest student in his class.

Charles received a B.S degree in Chemistry in 1941 and graduated third in his class. He joined the U.S. Army Air Forces and became a meteorologist. He was assigned to the Tuskegee Airmen as a weather officer. Charles was the first African-American to earn a Ph.D in meteorology from M.I.T. in 1960. Also, he was a professor at N.C. State University in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences. What a weather man!