Charles Ivan Pearman

When Charlie was two years old, he and his mother moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to live with his maternal grandparents, Charles and Audie Reavis.

Charlie attended Chattanooga Bible School for several years. As a boy, he cut grass for neighbors, cleaned ashes from their furnaces, replaced the coal, and sold newspapers. He attended Chattanooga (“City High”) High School and proved to be an outstanding athlete — lettering in baseball, football, basketball, and track. He also excelled in the school’s ROTC program.

Charlie began his college career at North Georgia Military College, where he was Freshman Cadet of the Year and played football. He transferred to David Lipscomb College to play baseball for the Bisons. There he received a Bachelor of Science degree. He went on to earn a Master’s Degree from Peabody/Vanderbilt and his Juris Doctor from the Nashville School of Law.

While attending Lipscomb, he met the love of his life, Beverly Pardue, and they married in August of 1970. They were blessed with three children: Chad, Emily, and Ryan. Charlie coached each of their children in various sports for several years. He thoroughly enjoyed officiating college football. He also coached the Lipscomb Junior Varsity men’s basketball team and was the school’s tennis coach for two years. One of his greatest joys was getting to the many sporting events of his children and grandchildren.

Charlie’s business career was in banking, and he became President of PFIC Corporation. After working in Nashville, Miami, Minnesota, and Texas, he retired from the financial/banking industry in 2009. The following year, he began working at Academy Sports in his “retirement years” and enjoyed his interactions with the public.

He had a special place in his heart for the people of Germany, Romania, and Ukraine. His spiritual passion included many missionary trips to both Munich and Heidelberg, Germany, Jordan, and Zagreb, Croatia. His compassion for Ukraine led him to take relief supplies to the church in Romania for Ukrainian refugees. He travelled to Romania and Ukraine in 2025 to find a location in Ukraine for counseling refugee children who have been orphaned during the ongoing war in that country.

Charlie served on the security team for Brentwood Hills Church of Christ and counted attendees at the second service. For many years, he prepared the Lord’s Supper and arranged the serving of Communion for that service.

Charlie died on June 21, 2026, while he and Beverly were in Jackson, Tennessee. He is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Beverly, and their three children — Chad (Jennifer) Pearman, Emily (Jeremy) Stephens, and Ryan (Ashley) Pearman. He was “Poppy” to grandchildren Camille (Kirwin) Horton, Carson Pearman, Corinne Pearman, Brooke Stephens, Cutler Stephens, Holland Stephens, Henry Pearman, Mae Pearman, and Meigs Pearman. He was the great-grandfather of Luke Horton. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend. Charlie loved well and was well loved.

Visitation will be at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ on Thursday, June 25th from 4:00-8:00 PM and at 10:00 AM on Friday, June 26th, with the service to follow at 11:00 AM.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Brentwood Hills Church of Christ Missions committee in Charlie’s name.

Pallbearers will be: Carson Pearman, Cutler Stephens, Henry Pearman, Jeremy Stephens, Kirwin Horton, Chris Pardue, Adam Pardue, Corey Pardue, Brandon Pardue, and Jason Jones