Charles Edward Motley Sr., retired city auditor, dies at 92

Charles Edward Motley Sr., a retired auditor for the City of Philadelphia, died on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, after years of managing diabetes and congestive heart failure. He was 92.

The oldest son of the late Florine Bradman and Moses Motley, he was born on Feb. 20, 1930, in an agribusiness and textile community in the segregated South. The couple moved to Philadelphia during the Great Migration to seek better employment opportunities to support a growing family.

He spent his toddler years with his grandmother and extended family in Greensboro, North Carolina, while his parents put down roots in the North. Some of his fondest memories were of the open fields that were his playground, the camaraderie of aunts, uncles and neighbors, and his paternal grandfather, who cultivated a small vineyard of Concord grapes that he sold with each harvest and from which he made jams, jellies and wine.

Motley moved to Philadelphia for elementary school and returned South to attend James B. Dudley Senior High School, the first Black high school in Guilford County. With good grades and athletic talent, he enrolled in 1949 at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the oldest historically Black universities and colleges in the United States. He earned a bachelor’s in economics and starred on the Golden Bulls’ basketball team. He pledged Omega Psi Phi and worked with frat brothers as a waiter at campus events.

He met his future wife, Henrietta McDonnell, at the university, where they were both active in Greek life.

After graduating, he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and eventually worked in the 126th Armored Ordnance Battalion, Company C. He served for two years and received a National Defense Service Medal.

After the war, Motley returned to Philadelphia and took graduate courses in accounting at Temple University. He earned enough credits to land an entry-level job at the City of Philadelphia Controller’s Office.

He reconnected with Henrietta after driving to Petersburg, Virginia, to surprise her, leaving a note with his phone number outside her room in the faculty dorms at Virginia State University.

They married on April 4, 1959, in Cheraw, South Carolina, at George Waldo Long Memorial Presbyterian Church. From this union came four children: Charles Jr., Wanda, Eric and Reginald.

The couple were members of Cedar Park Presbyterian Church for more than 40 years. He served as a deacon, elder and, for a time, with the men’s choir.

A licensed public accountant, he worked as an auditor and investigator in the Controller’s Office. He left briefly in 1967 when the family moved to Yorktown Heights, New York, so he could take a position with IBM. After encountering racism and discrimination, they returned to Philadelphia, where Motley secured a new position with the controller’s accounting department. He conducted audits and investigations of government financial records and operations for 35 years, holding various supervisory roles before retiring in 1992. He also completed federal and state tax returns for a loyal clientele.

“Ever the athlete, Charles often played tennis, coached his sons in little league sports, and tended a vegetable garden every summer, regularly growing tomatoes, squash and zucchini and harvesting Concord grapes from sprawling vines at the back of his house that he would ferment into what he called “homemade wine,” his family said in a tribute.

He loved family road trips, watching sports, reading the Wall Street Journal, “picking” steamed crabs, and guitar music.

He was preceded in death by his siblings, Michael Motley and Tamra Motley Willis.

He is survived by his wife, Henrietta; children, Charles E. Motley Jr., Wanda Motley Odom, Eric McDonnell Motley and Reginald Elliott Motley; daughters-in-law, Sharron Ester Motley and Tracy Joyner Motley; son-in-law, Vernon L. Odom; grandchildren, Corinne Odom, Lane Odom, Cameron Motley, Lauryn Motley, Kyle Motley and Kenyon Motley, Malik Motley, Maurice Motley and Jason Motley; and other family members.

Services will be held on Wednesday, June 29, at Cedar Park Presbyterian Church, 7740 Limekiln Pike.

Viewing will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Services will follow at 10:45 a.m.

Beckett-Brown & Hodges Funeral Home, Inc. handled the arrangements.