Although he was 75 years old, Charles Ross wasn’t interested in slowing down, and certainly not retiring.
Full of energy and filled with a love of people, he worked at the Piedmont Driving Club. He had been there 50 years.
His position as head car attendant, running the valet service not only for the daily operations but also special events, holidays, wedding receptions and an endless stream of other parties, was more than just a job. For Ross, it was a calling to connect people, to serve and to help.
He mentored dozens of younger employees over the years and became like family to hundreds of club members.
With an incomparable work ethic and an abundance of patience, kindness and trust, Ross took great pride in keeping the cars running on time and helping to ensure the safety and comfort of thousands of people over the years.
Regardless of all the moving parts in such a large operation, Ross always found time to help members and other employees, said Jimmy Alston, who knew Ross the entire 50 years that Ross worked at the club.
“He would take kids who needed tutoring, who needed jobs, and he would take time to train them,” Alston said. And, if Ross saw young people misbehaving, he would quietly take them aside and “get them back on track,” Alston said.
Ross also raised 12 children of his own.
“He brought them up the way I hope I brought mine up,” said Alston. “He had a great moral compass that steered a lot of people.”
On Christmas Day, Charles Ross went in to work at the Piedmont Driving Club. He was planning to work the New Year’s holiday, too. But by Christmas afternoon, he wasn’t feeling good, said daughter Kemeshia Moore. He lay down for a while. On Dec. 30, he was feeling so bad that he went to the emergency room.
Soon, there was a surprising and serious diagnosis: Ross had advanced liver cancer.
On Feb. 2, Charles Leon Ross, a lifelong Atlantan, died at Hospice of Atlanta, leaving behind not only his large family but hundreds more who considered him family because of his gentle and generous ways.
“He was always there for anybody who needed him,” said Moore. “He was just a good-hearted man, a kind man.”
Ross, the youngest of four, was born Feb. 11, 1940 to Daniel and Lena Ross in Atlanta. He accepted Christ as a youngster at Mt. Nebo Baptist Church. He played running back and swam for Luther Price High School in Atlanta.
He always loved cars, daughter Twander Ross-Johnson said.
“He would buy cars and restore them,” said Ross-Johnson, adding that his favorites were Corvettes. But he also loved a white, 1965 Mustang that, much as he loved his family and friends, no one else could drive.
It was in 1965 that Ross found a dream job at the Piedmont Driving Club.
He loved and respected the members and their guests, said those who knew him, and they loved and respected him.
“He just knew how the Driving Club was supposed to run,” said Gary Lanneau, general manger at the club for the past 18 years. Ross helped him learn the ropes when he came there from the hotel business, Lanneau said.
“He was such a positive person. I never heard him say a negative word about anybody,” Lanneau said.
Instead of strong reprimands, Lanneau said, Ross gently corrected people on his staff, using kindness to instruct.
“He gave his employees chance after chance after chance,” said Lanneau. “He can’t ever be replaced. We’ll just have to make do without him.”
A wake and viewing will be Sunday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Murray Brothers Funeral Home at 1199 Utoy Springs Road. The funeral will be Monday at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church, Hapeville, at 612 College Street. Burial will follow at Greenwood Cemetery on Cascade Road.
In addition to Ross-Johnson, of Union City, and Moore, of Ellenwood, Ross is survived by nine other children: Roderic Ross, Atlanta; Bernard Tony Clark, Lithonia; Michael Briddy, Thomasville; Armeal Golsby, Douglasville; LaShaunda Feagin, Hampton; Tony Henderson, Decatur; Charles Ross, Jr., Atlanta; Chadwynn Ross, Atlanta; and Fredrick Clark, Stone Mountain; sister Ruth Tigner of Atlanta; and 31 grandchildren. A daughter, Wanda Clark, a brother, Leo Ross, and sister, Gloria Williamson, preceded him in death.
Ross was married twice, to Barbara Harrell for 15 years and to Linda Polk for nine years. He remained good friends with both, his daughters said.
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