Charles Andrew Tatum was born on July 27, 1956 in Guin, Alabama, to Andy and Ruth Tatum. Andy Tatum worked his whole career at Tombigbee Electric in Guin and Ruth worked at home, raising the couple's three children: Charlie, Eddie born in 1960, and Melody born in 1962.
From the beginning of his life, Charlie was known for his easy-going personality. As an infant, he rarely fussed and throughout his childhood, he never gave his parents or his younger brother and sister much trouble.
He was popular with his teachers and classmates during his elementary and high school years. He was a pretty good student but not outstanding and, in high school, played on the football and baseball teams.
In 1975, he graduated from Marion County High School and enrolled at the University of North Alabama on an Army ROTC scholarship. During the summer of 1977, while Charlie was home from college, the high school burned and he saw firsthand how the fire and police departments came together to help the community. He was so affected by their bravery and commitment to serve that he decided he wanted to become a police officer himself. He earned a B.S. in Criminal Justice from UNA in 1979 and, following graduation, entered the U.S. Army where he served for 8 years.
On April 3, 1980, while Charlie was in the Army, his hometown of Guin was nearly destroyed by a devastating tornado that killed 23 citizens of the small town and left hundreds of others homeless, injured or both. The Tatum family home was demolished by the storm. Charlie requested and was granted a brief emergency leave from the Army to return home and help his family begin to put their lives back together. After a few weeks, Charlie returned to active duty, more committed than ever to pursue a career in public service as a police officer when he completed his time in the military. To help him achieve that goal, he joined the Military Police and took advantage of all the related training the Army offered. When he left the Army in 1987, he had achieved the rank of Captain and was well-respected by his fellow MPs of both higher and lower ranks.
Following his stint in the Army, Charlie applied to and was hired by the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department in Oxford, Mississippi. He initially intended to spend only a few years with the YCSD and then to return to Alabama and find a position with a law enforcement organization closer to his hometown, but Charlie found he liked both his job with the Sheriff's Department and the city and people of Oxford. Despite his mother's urging to move back to Alabama, he decided to make Oxford his permanent home.
In his 21 years with the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department, Charlie became known for his dogged determination to see justice done, even when the odds were against him. His good-natured personality belied his unshakable commitment to getting the bad guys behind bars, no matter how long or how much work it took. Because Charlie typically seemed laid-back and unconcerned, criminals frequently underestimated him, much to their detriment. Charlie had one of the top arrest and conviction records in the entire department during his tenure with the YCSD, and received numerous commendations for his stellar performance. In 2000, Charlie made detective and was assigned to the Vice Squad, where he pursued criminals with the same zeal he had shown as a patrol officer.
Charles Tatum was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his apartment on Sunday, April 6, 2008. |
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