Meet the Board: Secretary Charles Buskey

For Charles Buskey, service on the Board of Directors of the Eugene and Beverly Stradwick Heritage Foundation begins with a simple but powerful idea:

History is not complete unless every community’s full story is preserved, taught, and carried forward.

Charles is a lawyer and business executive whose career has lived at the intersection of law, business, and strategy. Professionally, he has helped organizations navigate complex issues, make sound decisions, and position themselves for growth. Personally, he brings the perspective of someone shaped by Mobile, Alabama, a city with a rich and complicated history of its own, including an African American history that has deeply influenced how he thinks about communities, memory, and opportunity.

He also comes from a family of educators. That matters. For Charles, education, mentorship, and creating opportunities for young people are not abstract values. They are part of his inheritance.

As the Foundation continues its work to preserve and share African American history in Wheeling and the Upper Ohio Valley, Charles brings a thoughtful and important voice to the board: someone who came to Wheeling’s story from the outside, listened carefully, and saw both its local power and its broader meaning.

Coming to Wheeling as a Student

Charles is quick to say that his connection to Wheeling is not the traditional kind.

“My connection to Wheeling is somewhat unusual,” he shared. “I have never actually lived in Wheeling, and until I met Terrill, I had very little personal connection to the Upper Ohio Valley.”

That changed through friendship.

Charles and Terrill met more than ten years ago while both were working at Time Warner Cable. Over time, as Terrill began sharing more about his family’s history and the deeper African American history of Wheeling, Charles found himself drawn into the research.

“He has essentially been my teacher when it comes to Wheeling,” Charles said.

The more he learned, the more he came to appreciate how much of Wheeling’s African American history was not widely known, and how important it was to preserve and share it. That experience also made him think about his own hometown.

Mobile, like Wheeling, contains layers of Black history that are not always fully recognized or understood. For Charles, the work being developed through the Foundation is rooted in Wheeling, but the idea behind it has meaning far beyond one city.

Drawn by Research, Moved by Purpose

Charles’s path to the Foundation began by watching the research unfold.

“It really began with Terrill and the opportunity to watch his research develop over time,” he said.

At first, he was struck by the stories themselves: family history, Black history, institutions, individuals, and overlooked parts of Wheeling’s past. But what moved him most was that this work was not simply about documenting the past. It was also about using history to educate people, especially young people.

That distinction resonated with him.

Coming from Mobile, Charles understands how much history can exist inside a community without being fully known. Coming from a family of educators, he also understands the power of knowledge to change the direction of a young person’s life.

“So when Terrill asked me to become involved,” Charles said, “I saw it as an opportunity to support something I believed was meaningful, not only for Wheeling, but potentially as a model that could have application in other communities as well.”

History, Education, and Opportunity

When asked which part of the Foundation’s mission resonates most deeply with him, Charles points to education, youth development, and scholarships.

“That is personal for me because I come from a family of educators,” he said. “I have seen firsthand the importance of education and the difference that a teacher, mentor, or scholarship can make in a young person’s life.”

But for Charles, the Foundation’s educational mission is powerful because it does not separate learning from identity. Young people are not simply being asked to memorize facts about people and events from long ago. They are being invited to see themselves inside a larger story.

They can learn about people from their own communities who faced obstacles, built businesses, created opportunities, served others, raised families, and helped shape the places where we live today.

As Charles put it, history can tell a young person: “People came before you who accomplished extraordinary things. You are part of that story, and you can add to it.”

That is a beautiful summary of the Foundation’s purpose.

We are preserving history, but not as something frozen behind glass. We are preserving it so it can become useful, meaningful, and alive for the next generation.

The Value of an Outside Perspective

Charles brings legal, business, and strategic experience to the Foundation, but he also brings something else: the perspective of someone who did not grow up inside Wheeling’s story.

That can be valuable.

“I came to this history as an outsider who was genuinely curious and had to be educated about it,” he explained. “That gives me a sense of what is compelling about the Foundation’s work to someone who is encountering it for the first time.”

That outside perspective helps the Foundation think about how its work reaches beyond people who already know the names, neighborhoods, schools, churches, and families that appear in our research.

If someone from Mobile can come to understand the importance of Wheeling’s African American history, then others can too.

And that matters for the Foundation’s future. Our work is rooted in Wheeling and the Upper Ohio Valley, but the questions we are asking are national questions:

Who gets remembered?

Who gets left out?

What happens when a community’s Black history is scattered across yearbooks, obituaries, deeds, clippings, church records, family photographs, and memories?

And what becomes possible when those pieces are brought back together?

Seeing the Story Beneath the Surface

One of the things Charles has learned through his service is just how much history can exist beneath the surface of a community.

“The biggest surprise for me has been the depth and richness of Wheeling’s African American history,” he said.

Before meeting Terrill, Charles knew very little about Wheeling. But through the Foundation’s research, he began to see the city differently. Wheeling became not simply a place with a past, but a community made up of individual stories that deserve to be known.

Families. Businesses. Schools. Churches. Neighborhoods. Community leaders. Educators. Veterans. Athletes. Professionals. Students. Builders.

The more he learned about Wheeling, the more it changed how he thought about Mobile as well. It made him wonder what stories from his own hometown may be underappreciated, overlooked, or insufficiently documented.

That is one of the quiet powers of local history. When done well, it does not only change how we see one place. It changes how we see every place.

Preserving History as a Responsibility

For Charles, preserving African American history is not just worthwhile. It is a responsibility.

“History is not complete unless we understand the contributions and experiences of all of the people who helped build a community,” he said.

That belief sits at the heart of the Foundation’s work.

The African American history of Wheeling is not a side story. It is not a footnote. It is not a special-interest category separate from the city’s “main” history. It is Wheeling history.

Charles sees that clearly.

“One of the things that has struck me through Terrill’s research is how much can be overlooked when we don’t intentionally preserve these stories,” he said.

That word intentionally matters. Preservation does not happen by accident. Research does not organize itself. Photographs do not identify themselves. Documents do not explain their meaning without context. And communities do not automatically pass forward every story their children deserve to know.

Once we discover these stories, Charles believes we have an obligation to preserve them and make sure future generations can learn from them.

A Vision for the Next Five Years

Looking ahead, Charles hopes the Foundation becomes a recognized resource for understanding and preserving African American history in Wheeling and the Upper Ohio Valley.

But just as importantly, he wants that history to become accessible to young people.

He envisions the Foundation’s research reaching beyond those already interested in local history. He hopes to see it incorporated into educational opportunities, community programming, exhibits, scholarships, and other forms of youth engagement.

He also sees the possibility of a broader model.

“One of the things that has intrigued me about Terrill’s work is that the questions he is asking about Wheeling are not unique to Wheeling,” Charles said. “Communities across the country have important African American histories that have not been fully documented, recognized, or shared.”

That is part of what makes the Foundation exciting. It is local in its roots, but expansive in its implications. If this work can be done in Wheeling, it can inspire similar work elsewhere.

Five years from now, Charles hopes the Foundation has deepened its impact in Wheeling while also showing other communities what is possible when historical preservation, education, and investment in young people come together.

Why Charles Serves

If Charles had to describe the Eugene and Beverly Stradwick Heritage Foundation to someone encountering it for the first time, he would describe it as an organization that connects history, education, and opportunity.

“At its heart,” he said, “the Foundation is about understanding and preserving an important part of Wheeling’s African American history and making sure those stories are not lost.”

But he also sees clearly that the Foundation is not only looking backward. It is using history to educate, inspire, and create opportunities for young people.

That is why his board service fits so naturally with his own values.

He believes in strategy. He believes in education. He believes in mentorship. He believes in communities learning their fuller stories. And he believes those stories can help young people understand what is possible for their own futures.

An Invitation to Get Involved

Charles’s message to anyone considering supporting, volunteering with, or becoming involved in the Foundation is simple: you do not have to be from Wheeling to find value in this work.

He is proof of that.

“I came to this through my friendship with Terrill,” he said. “The more I learned, the more I understood that this was about much more than preserving history.”

For Charles, the Foundation brings together three things he deeply believes in: preserving history, educating people, and investing in young people.

“If you care about any of those things,” he said, “I think there is a place for you in this organization.”

That support can take many forms: time, expertise, financial support, research help, partnerships, or simple curiosity. Every community benefits when people take the time to understand where it came from and make sure that knowledge is available to the people who will shape its future.

And perhaps most importantly, Charles encourages people to come with an open mind.

“I came to this without knowing much about Wheeling,” he said, “and I have learned a tremendous amount.”

That willingness to listen, learn, and help preserve what has been learned is exactly the spirit the Foundation hopes to nurture.

Charles Buskey may have come to Wheeling’s story from the outside, but he understands something essential about the work: when a community recovers its history, it does more than honor the past.

It creates possibility.

-T

More about Chuck -

Charles D. Buskey is an accomplished attorney, executive advisor, and technology leader with more than twenty-five years of experience advising companies, government agencies, and technology organizations on governance, commercial transactions, intellectual property, cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence, and enterprise risk. He is currently Associate General Counsel for Computershare, where he provides strategic legal counsel to executive leadership and partners across product, engineering, operations, sales, and compliance to support innovation and growth.

Mr. Buskey served as counsel with both the US Air Force and the Dept. of the Navy, advising senior leaders on mission-critical technology acquisitions, research and development, cybersecurity, and intellectual property. He has held in-house counsel roles with Time Warner Cable and NextPoint Networks and practiced with several prestigious law firms.

Mr. Buskey earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School. He is admitted to practice before The Supreme Court, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and in the District of Columbia. He was selected for the Leadership Greater Washington Signature Program in recognition of his commitment to regional leadership and civic engagement.

His unique combination of engineering expertise, legal judgment, executive leadership, and public service enables him to provide practical, forward-looking guidance to boards and executive teams.