Early in the morning of March 6, 2023, William Charles “Charlie” Oakley, 80, put on his cap, packed his harmonica and peacefully made his way to eternal rest. His loving wife and best friend holding him in her arms while Kenny G’s, “Forever In Love,” was playing in the background- an incredible testament to their love story.
Charlie, the oldest of two children, was born on October 21, 1942, in the small town of Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma to father, Glen Howard Oakley and mother, Billy Gay Oakley, both who proceeded him in death.
Charlie was quite the scholar. He graduated from Stonewall High School, Stonewall Oklahoma in 1961 and went on to study at Oklahoma University, the home of the Sooners. Charlie was also accepted into the graduate program at both The College of St. Scholastica and Northwestern University, in his late 60’s, where he took courses in business. Charlie was a wealth of knowledge and “knew many things” as he would often say. You could always find him tucked away reading a book or his iPad, whether learning about computer programming or even brushing up on his calculus to help one of his children or grandchildren with their coursework. He could also go up against the best of best in Jeopardy.
After college Charlie worked for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and then went on to work at EDS, where it was fate that he met the love of his life and wife of 35 years, Terrie. After leaving EDS, Charlie followed his dream and founded ISG Solutions, a consulting/software development company, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where he employed not only his wife and three children, but many others that he has always considered his ISG family and cherished friends.
There is nothing that Charlie loved more than his wife and family, his ISG family and his church family at Frederick Presbyterian Church. His family will lovingly remember him serenading them with his own unique version of yodeling, his rendition of the song “Bill Grogan’s Goat” or playing his harmonica, taking them on family vacations to the beach, or just spending time at home. There was never a doubt just how much they all meant to him, and you could always see that in his million-dollar smile. He filled the hearts of every single person he met.
Charlie is survived and will be incredibly missed by his loving wife Terrie of Jefferson, MD, and his three children, Glen Oakley (wife Christa) of Walkersville, MD, Roy Oakley, Mesquite, TX, and Megan Shankle, Brunswick, MD; grandchildren Catherine and Sydney Oakley; sister, Judith Covalt; and nieces Jodie Covalt, Sara Minnick (husband Jason and son Ronin) and Caty Griffin (husband Kenny and children, Skyler, Kenny, Ella and Layla) and Sister-In-Law, Deb Noonan.
Visitation will be Friday, March 10th from 5-7 p.m. at Keeney and Basford Funeral Home, 106 East Church Street, Frederick, MD. A celebration of Charlie’s life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 11th, at Frederick Presbyterian Church, 115 West 2nd Street in Frederick, MD. In lieu of flowers, Memorial Contributions can be made to Frederick Presbyterian Church https://frederickpresbyterian.org/ or Us Against Alzheimer’s https://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/.
Charlie’s family would like to thank the many angels that were part of Charlie’s Journey with Alzheimer’s, the wonderful staff of Country Meadows and the wonderful caregivers with Visiting Angels especially “Charlie’s Angels”, Marie, Jenn and head angel Caitlynn.