Charles Edward Nolan was the son of Edward Arnold Nolan of Tennessee and Margaret Knox Fleming, from Ireland. Edward Arnold Nolan was an Archirect as was Charles E. Nolan and Charles E.Nolan Jr. Though his early years were in Indiana and Nebraska, he grew up in Miami, Florida. He swam in the bay and knew the son of an Indian Chief in the Everglades. He could fish, swim and cook with the best of them.

Charlie, as he liked to be called, apprentanced to several construction trades before Architecture. You could say he had a Masters in Architecture without a College Degree. In 1918, he volunteered for WWI on July 31, 1918 and after training at Corpus Christi, TX, he went to France as a member of Company D, 5th Engineer Regiment. His only problem in the Army was mumps while at Corpus. He came back on the same ship as President Wilson and was stationed in Washington and Ft Belvoir, before discharge.

After the war he resumed his training he went back to live in Miami. In 1926, he lived near Alice Bernice Davis and married her in Ocala, FL on January 31, 1927. They were married verry quickly because of a bet. Alices brother, a grocerer, bet she could not marry Charlie in the next 30 days. They made it, and the brother said they ate better than him for that month.

Soon after this he moved to Midland, TX. His father is thought to have wanted an office in Texas, and may have gone with them to set up an office. Also in Midland at that time were some Davis' who may have been kin to Alice. The Depression ended Edwards thoughts of offices in Texas. Edward was found with his wife and daughters in Tyler Texas in 1930. Charlie's sons were born there during the 1930's. During the depression, he worked as an electrican, fireman and Architect. In 1936 he was elected Worshipful Master of the Midland Masonic Lodge and reversed a downward trend of membership, and all in all had a very good vear.

In 1940, he went back to FL to work with his father. This did not work out, and he soon returned to FT Worth, TX to work for the Federal Housing Administration as an inspector. With the outbreak of WWII he was offered a warrent officers rank in the CB's but at 42 with three children, he decided to stay home. During the war he worked and traveled for the FHA. In 1948, he went to work for a contractor in Pampa, TX as an Architect.

In 1950, he went to work for the VA in Lubbock, TX as Chief Architect so that his sons could go to college at Texas Tech. In 1955, he was a Democrate and lost his position as chief Architect, when the Republicans, won office with Eisenhower. He said he was fired by Ike. He opened an Architectual office in Lubbock, and made much more money than he did with the government. In 1964, his last son graduated from Texas Tech. In 1965, he had a heart attack. This caused him to retire, and he and his wife moved to Lake Placid, FL where she wanted to live. Charlie lived, and fished there for ten years till his death in 1975.

He had been a soldier, an electrican, a master mason, a carpenter, and an architect. He was in the Masonic Lodge in Midland rising to the rank of Past Master. Later he was in the lodge and Shrine in Lubbock. He was a member of the Methodist church. On his marker, he requested that it say only PVT, WWI. He is buried in Lake Placid, beside his Alice. We wonder what he would have thought if he had known his Grandfather was a Texas Ranger and Civil War veteran.

Charlie Edward Nolan - Architect & Mason