Charlotte Taylor Rowe

Charlotte Taylor Rowe passed away on November 1, 2021 at her San Marcos residence, after 100 years of active and joyful life.

Born January 3, 1921, Charlotte was the first grandchild of pioneering San Diego developer and visionary Ed Fletcher and his wife Mary, and maintained strong Fletcher connections throughout her life. Her mother, Catherine Fletcher, married WWI pilot and flying instructor Harry Taylor in 1919, and Charlotte, with her sisters Barbara and Mary, had front row seats to watch San Diego grow from a sleepy town into a major American city.

As a young girl, Charlotte played in the canyon “at the end of B Street”, spent summers in Fletcher family houses on the beach in Del Mar, danced on stage at the opening of the Fox Theater in 1929, and had a season pass to the 1935 Exposition in Balboa Park. She also attended Opening Day ceremonies for the Del Mar Racetrack in 1939. Graduating in 1938 from Point Loma High School, Charlotte attended the University of Arizona for two years. After a stay in New York City, employed by Lord and Taylor’s flagship department store in Manhattan, she remained in San Diego during WWII, working in Equipage for the Navy on San Diego’s harbor front.

Following the war, Charlotte met Howard Morrison Rowe, a former Army Air Force Major, at a Bachelor’s Club weekend in Ensenada, Mexico. The two wed on November 8, 1947 and settled in La Jolla, where Howard had an insurance brokerage on Prospect Street. With Howard, she raised four children, worked in volunteer positions for many organizations – including Scripps Clinic in La Jolla and Presidio Park in Old Town – and always found time to pursue her passion for writing and painting. Her first book, “Catherine: A San Diego Girl”, detailed her mother’s adventures growing up in turn-of-the-century San Diego and was on sale for many years at Cabrillo National Monument.

“Moderation in all things” was a frequently repeated bit of advice, but Charlotte did not apply it to chocolate or family: she loved both without limit. After her beloved Howard passed away in 2006, her greatest joy was to host and encourage visits with her four children, eleven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren, and many “Sand Crab” gatherings over the years provided a wealth of memories.

Charlotte is survived by her sister Mary; her children Marcy, Andy, Tom, and Jim (with spouses Rudy, Jeanine, Dorothy, and Beth); her grandchildren Ben, Tim, Amy, Samuel, and Alden (with spouses Vanessa, Karen, Simon, Sarah, and Janae), and Abraham, Emily, Hayley, Matthew, Clara, and Calista; and her great-grandchildren Dasa, Serena, Henry, June, Jamie, and Vera.

Charlotte was never a joke-teller, but she had a great sense of humor, and her sharp memory and perceptive advice made her an inspiration to all. She will be well-remembered and greatly missed, and she will be celebrated, whenever family gathers, always.