Charles Thomas Sikes

Merchant, artist, Texas native, civic volunteer, churchman and family man, Charles Sikes, lived a large life in his beloved hometown of Austin. That life came to an end on July 29th at Westminster Manor, not far from his first Austin home to where he and his parents, Chester Dewey Sikes and Gertrude Rowton Sikes moved from San Antonio when Charles was eight years old. He attended Austin’s oldest elementary school, Pease, and spent all but one year of the rest of his full life in the Capitol City. He attended University Junior High School and graduated from Austin High School in 1952 before attending the University of Texas.

While in Austin High School he began his business career by creating a window washing service enabling him to buy gasoline for his maroon and white Ford convertible and entertain his friends who included his future wife, Carole McIntosh Sikes. He left Austin briefly during the summer of 1949 to travel in Canada with a friend’s family’s circus, the Daily Brothers Circus, where he quickly gave up training with the trapeze act to pack boxes of candy and prizes for sale by the concessioners.

At the University of Texas at Austin, Charles proctored for Dr. Marian Davis, art history’s toughest professor who came to Austin from the Fogg Museum at Harvard. That job led to a degree in Fine Arts and fed a keen interest and knowledge of architecture. The Ford convertible proved an asset in college where driving in to Dirty Martin’s became a frequent ritual with dates as well as with Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brothers. He entered basic training for the U. S. Army Reserve Corp. While serving in the Reserve for five years, he was able to work with his family in their several retail businesses that included Austin’s Bo Peep Shop and Expecting The Best stores.

In 1958, he and Carole McIntosh formed a marriage that endured for 65 years. Charles with his wife and two small children left Austin briefly after Charles was hired to direct a new art gallery in downtown Dallas called Main Place Gallery. After determining that the shiny city of Dallas was no place for true Austinites, they returned in 1969 to their beloved home where the skyline, at that time, consisted only of the Capitol dome and the University Tower. Charles purchased the Bo Peep shop from his retiring parents and founded two more Austin retail stores selling maternity, children’s and infants’ clothing. He built a reputation for bringing to West Austin “the appropriate” fashions from New York, LA and Dallas and was known to carefully scrutinize his family’s wardrobes even after losing most of his eyesight.

Family and friends, Church and community were a life focus for Charles. This included serving the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd as Senior Warden and the Zachary Scott Theater Board (ZACH) as its president. He, along with Anne DeBois, saved the theater from bankruptcy by negotiating its overdue tax bill with the IRS. While on the Board of Directors of Citizen’s Bank, owned by Joe Long, he was elected to work with Houston architects to design the interior of its new North Austin location. He enjoyed participation in the Young Men’s Business League’s camp for under-privileged children, which provided a spark for continued support of other Austin charities and cultural organizations. He was a member of Tarry House where he frequently dined, even weeks before his death.

Charles never met a stranger and, like his father, befriended waiters, pharmacists, cashiers, nurses and mechanics across the city, treating everyone he met with respect and sincerity. He always had a story and enjoyed hearing those of others.

As an artist with knowledge of good design, he bought and restored the celebrated Nagel house that is included in the book Great Houses of Texas. After retirement he and Carole traveled and painted landscapes in the U.S. and in Europe, re-awakening talents on canvas not practiced during his long business career. New Mexico was a favorite place to spend time and he researched the early Taos painters and presented several lectures on the subject at SMU’s Taos facility, and for the University of Texas at Austin’s Sage and Quest Continuing Education classes.

After retirement, Charles and Carole enjoyed living on Lake Travis for 26 years before returning to the city to live among new and old friends at Westminster Retirement Community. He is survived by his wife Carole, their daughter Laura Sikes Barrow and son-in-law David Barrow III of Austin, son Stuart Bassett Sikes and daughter-in-law Jeanie Harwood Sikes of Dallas, five grandchildren: Caroline Sikes Holt, Angela Barrow, Sidney Sikes, Charlie Sikes and Michael Barrow.

A memorial service will be held 2:00 pm Monday, August 21, 2023 at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 3201 Windsor Rd, Austin, Texas 78703.

If desired, memorials may be sent to Good Shepherd Church or the charity of your choice.