HOUSTON – Charles Odum is being remembered for many things, but perhaps the late middle school teacher will be remembered the most for how he touched the lives of his students. Family, friends, current and former students and their parents turned out in Pattison in Waller County for a viewing for the teacher who lost his life in this week's flood disaster.
"He treated them as though they were actually his children," says Odum's stepmother Joycelene Odum. "He was loved not only by the children and their parents, but by the teachers."
Waller County was one on several areas hit especially hard by flooding on Monday. Odum was leaving his parents' home early that morning when the water started seeping in to the house. As they left in separate vehicles to make it to safety, Odum went a different direction, got stuck in water off off Adams Flat Road and called 911. But by the time responders arrived, his body was found submerged in his car.
"He lost the road, because he couldn't see it," says his father, Bob Odum. "It was pitch black, pushing water with that smaller car."
The family is thankful for the last picture Charles Odum took with his family. It was an impromptu gathering taken just a week before he died. It now serves as a lasting memory they all will cherish.
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"Cherish very much," says Bob Odum. "In fact, this is probably the rare time we did have all the quote Odum clan together, where my boys were all there and their family. And we just had a great time."
Odum's funeral will be held Saturday morning at 10:30 at Royal Junior High School, where he taught for seven years. So many students want to attend the funeral that the school district is picking them up in school buses to transport them. After the funeral, they will go outside the school and release hundreds of balloons with messages they've written to Charles Odum attached to the balloons.
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