Charles Laverne Rush

Charles Laverne Rush passed away at his home in Cullowhee on October 9, 2015. He was 86. Mr Rush was born in Clyde, NC to the late James Emory Rush and Annie Palmer Rush. The youngest of 8 children, he graduated from Clyde High School in 1945. He received a BA in Business from Mars Hill College followed by a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Houston in 1951. The same year he entered Officer Candidate School for the US Navy and served our country during the Korean War as a lieutenant in the US Navy Supply Corps. He subsequently obtained his MS in Accounting from the Columbia School of Business in New York in 1957. From 1957 to 1962 Mr. Rush was employed as an auditor by the Cerro De Pasco mining company in both Lima, Peru and La Oroya, Peru. In 1962 he returned to North Carolina and worked for the NC Auditor's Office in Raleigh, before being hired as the bursar at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, where he also taught in the business school. From 1970 to 1989 Mr Rush was employed as an auditor by the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Mr Rush was an avid world traveler throughout his life, and also practiced a lifelong love of gardening. He was also active with the Golden Age Senior Center in Sylva. He is survived by a daughter, Rachel Rush, of Dillsboro, NC, and a son, Stephen Rush, of Denver, Colorado. A memorial service for Mr. Rush will be held at Saint David's Episcopal Church in Cullowhee on Saturday, January 16th at 11:30 am. Memorial contributions may be made in Mr Rush's name to the Saint David's Episcopal Church Building Fund, c/o Saint David's Episcopal Church, PO Box 152, Cullowhee, NC 28723. . .