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LTC Charles Robert Odom was born the son of Ennis Guilford Odom and Effie Cacindy Nash Odom of Durham. He was married to Carla Lucille Whitehurst of Durham on June 6, 1964 at Grace Baptist Church, Durham. They have two daughters, Charlotte Martin Odom Lytle Perrin, Catherine Lynne Odom Quick and three grandsons.  

Mr. Odom was educated in the Durham Schools. At Campbell College he was Treasurer and a charter member of Nu Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, Service Fraternity, President of Phi Beta Lambda, President of North Carolina Future Business Leaders of America, and selected the North Carolina’s Future Business Leader of the Year. Mr. Odom completed undergraduate work with a B.S. degree in Business. After a brief career with Carolina Power and Light Power Company in Raleigh, North Carolina he enlisted during the buildup of the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant Odom graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Lee, Virginia and was immediately deployed to the Republic of Vietnam where he served as an Engineer Supply Officer and later as a Subsistence Supply Officer. Following an assignment as a Test Officer at the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Captain Odom graduated from the Quartermaster Officer Career Course at Fort Lee. He deployed to the Republic of Thailand and was appointed Executive Officer to the Depot Commander and later Secretary to the General Staff for the U.S. Army. At Fort Rucker, Alabama he commanded the 108th Quartermaster Company followed by duty as Chief of Protocol. He graduated from Troy State University with a MBA.

At Campbell University, Major Odom was an Assistant Professor of Military Science with the ROTC Detachment and inducted into the Faculty Senate. He graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas . He was deployed to Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany, at the United States Army Europe Headquarters in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics. LTC Odom’s final military tour was a five-year assignment at the United States Army Logistics Management College (ALMC) at Fort Lee, Virginia as Director for both the United States Army Auditors and Major Items Management Courses. He was a graduate of a number of the other courses at ALMC. LTC Odom also served as a guest lecturer at the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He retired in the Regular Army rank of Lieutenant Colonel. 

His post-military career included employment as a Systems Analyst at Computer Science Corporation, Co-Owner of B&O Computers, and recently as a G.E.D. Instructor. The Odoms returned to Durham after living around the world including 33 years in Virginia.

Society Memberships

  • Descendants of American Prisoners of War
  • Descendants of Brian Boru (Co-Founder; Inaugural Parliamentarian)
  • Descendants of Colonial Mothers 1607-July 4, 1776 (Co-Founder; Inaugural First Vice President; Honorary President General)
  • Descendants of Continental Colonial Officers (Founder; Inaugural Commander Retired)
  • Descendants of Early Postmasters 1607-1900 (Founding Parliamentarian; Former Surveyor)
  • Founders Fellowship
  • General Society of Colonial Wars (Virginia and North Carolina Societies; Former Lt. Governor, North Carolina Society)
  • General Society of the War of 1812 (Virginia Society)
  • General Society Sons of the Revolution (Virginia and North Carolina Societies; Former Treasurer, North Carolina Society)
  • Guild of Colonial Artisans and Tradesmen 1607-1783 (Former First Vice President General)
  • Hereditary Order of Descendants of the Loyalists and Patriots of the American Revolution (Honorary Governor General)
  • Hereditary Order of the Red Dragon (Founder; Inaugural Parliamentarian)
  • Hereditary Society Daughters of Founding Fathers of America 1606 – 1656 (Honorary Member)
  • Military Order of the Foreign Wars of the United States of America
  • Military Order of the World Wars
  • National Gavel Society (Former Treasurer)
  • National Order of the Blue and Gray (Former Historian General)
  • National Society of Descendants of American Farmers (Co-Founder; Inaugural Advisor)
  • National Society Sons and Daughters of the Antebellum Planters 1607 – 1861 (Honorary President General)
  • National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims (Honorary Governor Virginia Branch; Honorary Governor General; Founding Honorary Governor, Founding Treasurer, Virginia South Branch; Dual Member, North Carolina Branch)
  • National Society Sons of the American Colonists (Former Archivist General)
  • National Society Sons of the American Revolution (Former member Richmond Chapter)
  • Order of Bacon's Rebellion (Founder; Inaugural Second Deputy Governor; First Deputy Governor)
  • Order of Descendants of Colonial Cavaliers 1640–1660
  • Order of Descendants of El Cid (Founder; Inaugural Parliamentarian)
  • Order of Descendants of the Justiciars (Honorary Member; Founding Auditor)
  • Order of Founders of the Granville District 1663-1763 (Founder; Inaugural Aide-de-Camp)
  • Order of Indian Wars of the United States
  • Order of the First World War
  • Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (North Carolina Society)
  • Order of the Founders of North America 1492-1692 (Founding Deputy Chronicler General; Charter Member)
  • Order of the Honorable Artillery Company
  • Order of the Kings and Queens in the Holy Lands (Honorary Member)
  • Order of the Monarchs of Rheims (Honorary Member)
  • Order of the Second World War
  • Order of the Steel Magnolias (Co-Founder; Inaugural Treasurer; Former Parliamentarian)
  • Order of the Vietnam War (Founder; Inaugural Vice-Commander)
  • Order of Washington
  • Order of William the Marshal (Founder, Inaugural Parliamentarian) 
  • Saint Andrew's Society of North Carolina
  • Society of Descendants of Lady Godiva (Associate Member)
  • Society of the 1704 Virginia Quit Rents (Inaugural Recording Scribe; Former Parliamentarian)
  • Sons and Daughters of the Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar 1565 -1861 (Honorary President General)
  • Sons and Daughters of Virginia Founding Fathers (Charter Member)
  • Sons of Spanish American War Veterans (Associate Member)
  • Veteran Corps of Artillery State of New York
  • Virginia Huguenot Society (Honorary Member)

Chivalric Orders

  • Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (Priory of Saint Thomas a` Becket, Knight Chevalier)

Editor

  • The Planter, a publication of the National Society Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters 1607-1861, 2015-2017.
  • The Barrister, a publication of the Sons and Daughters of Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar 2018-2020.

Co-Editor

  • At Mother's Knee, a publication of Descendants of Colonial Mothers, 1607-July 4, 1776, 2019 - 2021.
  • The Colonial Dispatch, a publication of Descendants of Continental Colonial Officers, 2020 - 2022.
  • The Bugler, a publication of the National Order of the Blue and Gray, 2021 - 2023.
  • Granville Gazette, a publication of Order of Founders of the Granville District 1663 - 1763, 2022-2024.

Other Notes

LTC Odom was of the Baptist and Episcopal Faith, and a former lector, Sunday School teacher, and member of the choir. He was the former President of the Chapel Council at Mark Twain Village Chapel, Heidelberg, Germany, Chairman of the Board of Deacons, Director of the W.W. Hammond Recital Series at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Colonial Heights, Virginia, and Junior Warden of Saint Paul’s Episcopal  Church, Petersburg, Virginia.  He performed solo, in quartet and with choirs, where duty called, in churches and choral festivals in America, Vietnam, Thailand and Germany.  He was a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church.  

The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International named LTC Odom as a Paul Harris Fellow. He was former President of the Colonial Heights Club and a twenty-five-year member. He and his family received the Family Life Award as Family of the Year from the Coats Women’s Club. LTC Odom was former Chairman of the Board of the Fort Rucker School Association, member of the Board of Visitors at Mary Baldwin College, and for many years Class Agent for Campbell University. He was a former member of the Petersburg Music Festival Chorus and Vice President, Board of Directors of Crater Community Hospice.

For several years Charles Odom and his wife supplied and posted colors for individual patriots interred at the Spanish American War Cemetery, on the grounds of the Hampton Veterans Medical Center, Hampton, Virginia. During his administration President General Odom presented the National Society Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters bronze marker and certificate of award to Shirley Plantation at Charles City County, Virginia and to the Richard Wainwright Barber Farm, Rowan County, North Carolina. He served as sponsor for 26 hereditary groups for their respective events held at the Army and Navy Club, Washington.

He was a member of the Army and Navy Club of Washington, D.C. He was an adjunct member of the Swamp Fox Board of Directors and a founding member of the Book Club of Umstead Pines Club. LTC Charles Robert and Carla Whitehurst Odom established a Hereditary Society Community Scholarship at the College of William and Mary.

LTC Odom was the recent recipient of the Order of El Cid Merit Award. Recently he was honored by Descendants of American Farmers with the Vietnam War Veteran's medal and a Certificate of Valor presented at the Inaugural Military Tribute Ceremony.

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