Charlene Audrey Mathews Poole, 95, died on March 3 in Houston, Texas.
A native Floridian, Charlene was born in Daytona Beach, the youngest of four children born to Francis Edward Mathews and Florence (Brewer) Mathews. In 1943, Charlene graduated at the top of her class at Leesburg High School. Later, she sold movie tickets at Fain Theater and studied bookkeeping in Ocala. Hired as a teller at First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Lake County, she rose to Secretary-Treasurer, the second in command. In the mid-1950s, after the Board told her it would not consider a woman for the top job, Charlene submitted her resignation. A faithful adherent of the Christian Science faith, she accepted a position with the Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.
Back in Leesburg, she was missed by her family and a local life insurance agent, William Frederick Poole III. A long-distance courtship ensued, and in 1958 Charlene and Bill were married. She balanced work and motherhood by maintaining an office in their home, where she managed Bill’s growing insurance agency. The family moved several times around Central Florida: Lakeland (1962), Winter Haven (1964), Temple Terrace (1970) and Inverness (1981). No matter where she lived, Charlene was a dedicated, active member of her church. She also chaperoned school field trips, collected dues for the ladies golf association and organized reunions of her LHS classmates. She cared for Bill during his final days in 1987. Always a bookkeeper at heart, Charlene was in her 70s when she made the leap from ledger sheets to Quick Books.
She is survived by two children, Leslie Ann Poole of Houston and David Matthew Poole of Richmond, Virginia, and two stepchildren, William Frederick Poole IV of Winter Haven and Barbara Poole Whatley of San Antonio, Texas. Survivors also include four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
