Friends remember childhood reading advocate, program founder

By Amy Coyne Bredeson CONTRIBUTOR

Admired by many, Charlie Cookson of Callawassie Island has been described as a kind, brilliant, eternally optimistic man who excelled at the game of bridge, enjoyed playing dominoes every night with his wife, Patricia Cookson. And he was a big fan of the Clemson Tigers.

Charlie was known for striking up conversations with neighbors on his daily walks with his dog, Juno, and in recent years for his dedication to an early childhood literacy program that he brought to Bluffton, Hilton Head Island and Beaufort.

A loving husband, father of three and grandfather of four, Charlie died May 19. He was 86.

“I met him at my mailbox,” said retired teacher Kay Roller of Callawassie Island. “He would go all over the island every day with Juno. And everywhere he went, he’d stop and talk to people about this program.”

Charlie started My First Books SC Palmetto Project Reading Discovery four years ago, after learning about a similar program called Reading Power, which provides one-on-one literacy tutoring to young children.

Spring Island resident Mary Jane Hender co-founded Reading Power in Chicago and brought it to Joseph S. Shanklin Elementary School in Beaufort. Roller said Charlie wanted to expand that program to other schools in Beaufort County. She said Hender declined the offer but encouraged Charlie to start his own program for local schools.

Charlie began recruiting tutors through the Nextdoor app and on his long walks with Juno. His program, commonly referred to as Reading Discovery, is now offered at five local schools and one childcare center.

Volunteer tutors read and discuss books with students at Shanklin Elementary, Broad River Elementary School, Robert Smalls International Academy, Michael C. Riley Early Childhood Center, Hilton Head Island Early Childhood Center and the Children’s Center on Hilton Head.

“Charlie wanted every pre-K child in Beaufort County to have the benefit of

READING from page 15A this program … to know how to read and to love reading,” Roller said.

Shannon Stokes of Bluffton volunteers as the site coordinator for Reading Discovery at Michael C. Riley Early Childhood Center.

Stokes, who taught school in Beaufort County for about 30 years before retiring, said there’s a dire need for literacy tutoring at local schools. She had so much respect for Charlie for taking on the challenge.

“He had a lot of determination and dedication,” Stokes said. “He found out about some of the difficulties of some of the students and wanted to do something about it. Setting up tutoring to give kids this early support in their reading was his way to do that.”

Like many others who knew Charlie, Stokes was shocked to hear last month that he was in hospice care.

“All the time that we knew him, he had just been such a dynamo,” she said.

Charlie’s wife of 36 years, Patricia, has received stacks of cards from people who loved her husband.

She said Reading Discovery became the center of Charlie’s life.

“I had never seen him so enthusiastic about anything else he’d done than he was with this reading program,” Patricia said. “I loved to watch him working on it because he was so involved in it, and it did mean that much to him, even though at times it was really frustrating. But he persevered even when he was really discouraged. … It was an incredible effort on his part, and it really kept him going.”

Patricia said Charlie was incredibly smart. He graduated from Princeton University in 1957 and lived in Brazil for almost 30 years, where he ran a successful business. He went back to school for his master’s degree in public policy at William & Mary when he was in his 50s, then ran an economic consulting business.

Patricia said Charlie decided to take the graduate school entrance exam one day ahead of time and didn’t even study for it, but he still managed to earn the highest score that William & Mary had ever seen.

“I really wish that he had known that he was recognized for all the work that he did,” Patricia said. “He never cared about that. He didn’t care about what people thought about him. He didn’t care anything about recognition for it, but I think it would’ve been nice if he had known how people thought he was important and how much it meant to the community. I’m sorry he missed that.”

Roller echoed Patricia’s sentiments about Charlie.

“Everybody loved him,” she said. “He was a class act. He was so important to so many people.”

A memorial service is planned for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at St. Helena’s Anglican Church in Beaufort, and Charlie will be buried in Pendleton. After the services, the family will honor their patriarch by attending a Clemson football game.

To support Charlie’s efforts with early childhood literacy, donations can be mailed to Palmetto Project, Attention: Charles Cookson Memorial, 6296 Rivers Avenue, Suite 100, North Charleston, SC 29406.