Charles Oliver Longstreet, Sr.

Charles Oliver Longstreet, Sr. was born Friday, February 4, 1944, in Coffeeville, Yallowbusha County, Mississippi, to Annie Derden and Welton Longstreet.  

He was raised on the farm with his eight siblings in Grenada, Mississippi. His childhood was rough, growing up poor in the South, living through Jim Crow and unjust racial discrimination. He and his brothers and sisters worked on the family farm, plowing fields, caring for the farm animals, and working in the cotton fields most of the year. They attended school in the winter after the fall harvest, only to return to the fields at the first break of spring.

Charles accepted Christ at an early age; he was raised in the church, studying scriptures and wise stories from the bible. He often started conversations with his calling card, 'The bible says."

Charles enjoyed gospel music often humming tunes from the Mighty Clouds of Joy.  He toured the South as part of a gospel quartet in his teenage years.

In his early twenties, he participated in the Civil Rights movement and marches, being one of the first of two Blacks to register to vote in Grenada.  Unfortunately, this would result in harassment and he would be forced to leave Mississippi for exercising his civic duties.  Once saving enough money working at the local bakery, Charles left the family farm and made his great migration to the north to join his brothers in Detroit, the city he proudly called home.    

His childhood on the farm created his work ethic. It would be the driving motivation for what would become a successful entrepreneur in Detroit.

           "When I left the South, I told myself I would never live like that again."

Charles arrived in Detroit in 1965 and lived with his brother, William "Will", and wife on the east side. He got a job building garages and hauling bricks. Shortly before he arrived in Detroit, the first of his three children, whom he loved and adored, was born,  Glenda Renee Smith.

In 1968 while attending a party in Toledo, Ohio, with his cousin John Eddie “Joe” Derden, Charles was introduced to Catherine Robinson, and on April 6, 1969, the two joined in holy matrimony and spent the next 51 years together as husband and wife until Catherine's death in 2020.

This union of 51 years produced two children:  Julia Nicole and Charles Oliver, II. They raised their children on Detroit's west side in the Carry St Mary's neighborhood. In 1971, The Longstreets were the second black family to move onto the street where he would live until his death.

Charles was proud of the neighborhood he lived in. He loved his neighbors and his community!

Charles was employed with Fitzsimmons Manufacturing Company as a machinist for 30 years until his partial retirement in 1995.   However, his main job was as a self-employed entrepreneur. After a layoff in 1983, Charles started the LONGSTREET LAWN SERVICE. Until his death, Charles' entrepreneurial spirit would flourish.

    "I'll retire when I die!'

By 2000, Charles had built a small landscaping and real estate empire, serving 250 weekly and biweekly landscaping customers. Every yard perfectly trimmed, with bright green lawns looking like fine carpet, "The Longstreet signature cut."

He provided countless jobs for people in the neighborhood that wanted to work, and most of the children in the neighborhood's first job was cutting lawns with Mr. Longstreet. He accepted people from all walks of life and never defined a man by his affliction but only by his honesty, work ethic, and character. Even when people did wrong, Charles gave them a second chance. He hired men straight out of prison to renovate homes and cut lawns; he could see past a person's circumstances.

 Charles also loved business, studying industry, and building wealth.   Buying and renovating homes was his hobby.  Over the years, Charles bought, renovated, rented, or sold over 16 homes in the metro Detroit area. He would often rent homes well below market rates. He even used his real estate savvy to purchase a neighbor's house to save it from tax foreclosure.

Charles was also a financier. He was known as the man people could go to if they needed to borrow a couple of dollars until the next payday or an angel investor to start a business.

In his spare time, he enjoyed gardening, fishing, hanging out at the sportsman club, barbecuing in the backyard, or chilling with his neighborhood friends. You saw him often gathered in a circle in the backyard, drinking beers, chatting, or watching sports. People often came to Charles for a deep, intellectual, wisdom-filled conversation about life, politics, business, guidance, or just a good word. Many friends often say at some point during the discussion,
 "Man, you don't get an intellectual conversation like this often."

Charles departed this life Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at 11:38 am. He was preceded in death by his wife Catherine, parents (Annie and Welton), five brothers (Carselee Edward, Curtis Lawrence Sr., Earnest, William Standford, James Authur), and two sisters (Annie Mae, Louisiana Elnora).

Charles Sr. leaves to cherish his memories: daughters Glenda and Julia, son Charles II and his wife Kristine , sister Clara Lois Longstreet Richardson, sister-in-laws Zella Hankins Longstreet & Velma Longstreet and a host of loved nephews, nieces, cousins, other relatives, and friends.