Charlie Lovett, Class of 1977

In 1977, Charlie Lovett graduated from Summit along with his fellow classmates. The difference is, he never really left. Throughout the years, his allegiance to and support for the school have been remarkable. Whenever he has lived anywhere close to Summit he has found the time to stay actively involved.

After graduating from Woodberry Forest, where he was a star cross country runner and chorister, he went to Davidson where he graduated cum laude in theater and won the department award. By the 1980s he was living and working in Winston and volunteering at Summit. Some of you may remember the year when he stepped into the role of a singing cowboy in the junior high production of “Oklahoma” when the student cast in the part became ill at the last minute. Lured by the fun of working with the Summit music and drama staff, being around the students was icing on the cake.

During the early 1990s, while studying creative writing at Vermont College, Charlie decided to try some more structured teaching and found that he loved it. In 1997, he received an MFA. The next year he returned to Winston-Salem and was again ready and willing to become involved at Summit. He and wife Janice, who teaches third grade drama, directed the junior high drama that year while Mary Kerr was on leave. In the fall of 2001, he taught 9th grade English while Julie Giljames was on maternity leave. “I loved working in the classroom and loved my 9th grade students,” he says. “I miss them already.”

This year, Charlie is serving as the school’s first Writer-in-Residence—working with students and teachers at all levels of the school. Last spring, Charlie wrote the blockbuster third grade play, “Twinderella” which brought down the house for both student and adult audiences. He has followed that success with this fall’s junior high production of “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter,” a re-working of “Romeo and Juliet.” Both plays were directed by his wife Janice.

An avid book collector, especially of items relating to the life and work of Charles Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll), Charlie has written several books of his own to add to his shelves. His most recent is “Sparrow Through the Hall,” a book about pilgrimage that takes the reader on a historical, theological, and spiritual journey through British Christianity. He has also written a book about his mother, Ruth Candler Lovett, entitled “Love, Ruth, A Son’s Memoir.”