Charles Owen Prescott, had lifelong love of history

By Laura Berrios

For the AJC

As a young man, Charles Prescott had a special interest in history but didn’t think he could earn a living at it. So he became an accountant, and history became his lifelong hobby, his family said.

Mr. Prescott had a 28-year career crunching numbers for the Georgia Department of Human Resources, retiring in 2001. But stacks of history books were always by his side, said daughter Jennifer Bartlett-Prescott of Memphis.

“Growing up, he would get me in trouble with my history teachers because he would correct the textbook," Ms. Bartlett-Prescott said. "Or he would tell me some added information that wasn’t being taught. The teacher would say, ‘That’s not what the book says,’ and I would say, ‘Well, that’s what my Dad told me.’”

He watched PBS and History Channel documentaries frequently, and every vacation turned into a history trip as well, said his wife, Louise Prescott of Conyers.

“There was always some little off-the-path place he had read about that he wanted to see,” remembered stepdaughter Ansleigh Smith of Loganville.

Mr. Prescott, a Vietnam veteran, also enjoyed studying military battles. And for the past decade, he fought a personal battle with his own health.

In 2001, he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and was put on a transplant waiting list. Shortly after that, doctors discovered he also had lymphoma.

The two conditions were believed to be related and caused by his exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam, his daughter said. Mr. Prescott was granted full disability by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

He was taken off the transplant waiting list and received cancer treatments. Then he was given a pacemaker and medicine to rehabilitate his heart, his wife said. The two married that same year, after a 25-year friendship as DHR colleagues.

In 2005, the lymphoma returned. Doctors started treatments again, but didn’t give Mr. Prescott much chance to survive. He never believed them, however, even though radiation had destroyed his bone marrow, making weekly blood transfusions necessary.

“He was so optimistic. He always said, ‘I’m going to fight it,’” said stepdaughter Kimberly Ames of Lanett, Ala.

Mr. Prescott's fight lasted another five years, but in May he was diagnosed with two types of leukemia. Because of his heart condition, he was not eligible for a bone marrow transplant, Mrs. Prescott said.

Charles Owen Prescott, 62, of Conyers died June 25 at Hospice Atlanta of complications from leukemia. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m.  July 10 at Rockdale Baptist Church in Conyers, with visitation at 10 a.m. SouthCare Cremation Society and Memorial Centers in Stockbridge is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Prescott grew up in the South Georgia town of Folkston and attended Oxford College at Emory University. He later joined the U.S. Army, serving one year in Vietnam.

After military service, he moved to Atlanta and worked his way through Georgia State University. Because of his work schedule, it took him 10 years to receive his accounting degree, his wife said.

Mr. Prescott was a big sports fan and had season tickets to the Falcons.

In earlier years he had been a soccer dad, coaching daughter Jennifer’s teams with the Decatur YMCA and later planting himself at midfield in the bleachers to watch her games at Decatur High School.

Other survivors include a brother, Jack Prescott of Decatur; a sister, Charlotte Halstead of Townsend; and six grandchildren.