Born on March 7, 1923 in Baton Rouge, LA to Carl Lee and Thelma Robinson Brasfield, the family moved often from Louisiana to Oklahoma to Texas as Carl found work as a carpenter during the Great Depression.
After high school graduation, C.L. attended business college in Corpus Christi. He worked as a janitor to pay for tuition. One day he received a telegram from Washington DC with an offer for a position as a courier for the White House. While C.L.loved the job, his heart yearned for his family at home in Corpus Christi. He eventually resigned and returned to Texas.
In 1942, C.L. joined the US Army where he proudly served as he was stationed at San Antonio and then on to Guadalcanal for 18 months working as a pathologist’s clerk. Honorably discharged in 1945, he returned to college in Eastern NC. In Greenville, SC on December 24, 1948, C.L. married Vertie Mae Fann from Sampson County, NC. After his 1949 graduation from Holmes Bible College, C.L. went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree from Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC.
In 1953, C.L. joined the Church of God and received his Exhorter’s license. Shortly thereafter, C.L. and his young family moved to Charlotte from Durham where they would walk the short distance from their home to Parkwood Church of God. C.L. knew immediately he was at home. He became active in the church and taught school all while earning a Master’s Degree from UNC Chapel Hill.
In 1985, C.L. retired from teaching after ten years at Sun Valley Middle School in Union County. He then attended the School of Theology in Cleveland TN and became a prison chaplain in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. C.L. soon became a volunteer Police Chaplain in Charlotte as well as an ordained bishop in the Church of God at Eastway Church of God for over twenty years.
C.L. is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Vertie in 1983 and great granddaughter Summer Suggs.
Left to mourn his loss is son Wade and daughter Nora Utley, grandchildren Rodney Blount, Wade Bass, Shawn Brasfield, David Brasfield and Patrick Steger along with ten great grandchildren and twenty great great grandchildren.
A Homecoming Celebration is scheduled for 11am on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at Eastway Drive Church of God located at 1131 Eastway Drive in Charlotte.
In lieu flowers, please consider a donation in C.L.'s name to Eastway Church of God (www.eastwaychurchofgod.org) or the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Foundation (www.charlottepolicefoundation.org).
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