Charles Philip Johnston

Born on Mother’s Day, May 13, 1928 in Charlotte, NC, he was the son of Charlie Lee and Geraldine Kaneer Johnston. He attended Needham B. Broughton High School in Raleigh and upon graduation entered the US Army where he reached the rank of Sergeant at age 19. Upon discharge, he attended Mount Saint Mary’s College in Emmetsburg, Maryland, and finished his undergraduate degree at Saint Louis University in 1952. Immediately after graduation he was appointed to the faculty of Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama where he taught speech and drama. In 1954 he entered a Master’s program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, receiving his degree in 1958. During his Master’s program he served as an instructor in the Department of Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures, and for a brief period served as Production Manager for WUNC-TV. After graduate school, he entered the professional entertainment business under the stage name of Kelly Kinnear. As Kelly Kinnear he worked with such notable show business personalities as Jack Benny, Ed Sullivan, George C. Scott, Linda Darnell, Nina Foche, Harvey Korman, John Kerr, and numerous others. With the intention of furthering a career in show business, he moved to Hollywood. With acting jobs few and far between, to survive he took a “temporary job” working for Conrad Hilton whom he knew through mutual friends. This was his first introduction to “business”. Hilton’s subsidiary corporation was known as Carte Blanche, a new credit card venture, which was intended to compete with American Express. His love for theater was soon replaced by business and in particular the credit card industry. In those days, MasterCard and Visa had yet to be invented, but once they came into the market place the entire industry was taken over by the banks of the country. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Johnston who in seven years had become assistant to the President of Carte Blanche Corp, resigned to take a position with a large St. Louis bank with the responsibility of directing the bank’s new credit card division. Johnston took early retirement from the bank as Senior Vice President to take over the position of President of Consumer Credit Counseling of St. Louis, which was a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a free service to those individuals and families finding themselves over their heads in debt, and in need of counseling and education in the ways of handling personal debt and finances.

It was through the face to face meetings with these debt burdened individuals and families, that Johnston soon recognized the need for education in handling personal debt. He saw that in the twenty years of providing credit cards to well over a million people in the name of service, he may have unwittingly provided a disservice to those incapable of handling their personal finances. It was obvious that these grown-ups needed guidance in getting, and staying, out of debt. He saw that in twenty this was the primary job of the staff counselors and they were doing an excellent job. But the question arose: Is it possible to teach non-grown-ups something about personal finances? Joining together with representatives from the Economic Department of University of Missouri, St. Louis which was affiliated with the National Council of Economic Education, a group of educators and economists came together to create a curriculum in personal finance for children from kindergarten through twelve. The curriculum wan an immediate success and today is being taught throughout the United States and in many other parts of the world, having been translated in several languages. Bank of America recognized the importance of education their future customers by donating millions to enhancement and distribution of the curriculum throughout the world. Johnston’s career took a curious route from his first professional show business job as an usher at Radio City Music Hall at 17 to his retirement in Myrtle Beach at the age of 70.

The funeral mass will be held at 11:00 am Tuesday, May, 2, 2017 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Southport, NC. Burial will follow in the Northwood Cemetery.

Online condolences may be made at www.peacocknewnamwhite.com.

Peacock –Newnam & White Funeral and Cremation Service.