Jim Charlet, Jr.

James Edward Charlet, Jr. (Jim), born November 9, 1940 in Nashville, passed away February 7, 2026 at age 85. He is survived by Barbara, his wife of 50 years, and their children Jamie Young (Kevin) and Caldwell Charlet (Jennifer) and four grandchildren: Sophia and Maya Young, Jameson and Theodore Charlet. He is also survived by sister-in-law Candace Kayne (Art Saunders) and step-brothers-in-law Don Perry (DeeDee) and Ted Perry (Rita).

Jim is pre-deceased by parents James E. Charlet and Martha Caldwell Charlet, and sister Penelope Charlet Stacey (William). Born in Nashville, he grew up in Clarksville where his family owned and published the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle and printed seven surrounding counties’ weekly newspapers.

His years of U.S. Air Force service as a military journalist in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America was the career of which he was most proud. He retired as a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. He was a graduate of the Air War College and the Air Command and Staff College. During his active duty he was Commander of Detachment 311 of the USAF Recruiting Service, leading its national championship recruiting sales competition. As an Air Force Reserve officer, he served in Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf War where he helped design DOD plans for news media access to Allied combat teams. His decorations include the USAF Meritorious Service Medal, the U.S. Army Commendation Medal, and the USAF Commendation and Achievement Medals with multiple oak leaf clusters. Twice he won the Reserve officer U. S. Air Force Journalist of the Year Award in worldwide competitions. His military career was profiled in “Blackwood Field to Berry Field” (1986), Taylor Publishing, Dallas, TX.

Concurrently with his Reserve military service, Jim had a 17-year career in international business initially as the Deputy Director of Public Affairs of the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. He returned to Tennessee as Director of the International Trade Administration Nashville Office where he assisted state manufacturing and service industries with foreign export markets. In that role he influenced Tennessee’s growth in annual export sales from $1.3 billion in 1983 to $9.3 billion in 1997, and guided addition of its 16 new Foreign Trade Zones. He was Mission Director of Tennessee Export Trade Missions to Eastern Europe, Austria, France, Switzerland, and Caribbean markets. He earned the Silver and Bronze Medals, two of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s highest awards, for his successful trade missions and training of Commercial Officers for U.S. Foreign Service careers. For 14 years he was also Executive Secretary of the Tennessee Export Council.

After retiring from government service in 1997, Jim applied his international trade experience for two years as an adjunct international business instructor at Belmont University. There he established and was Managing Director of its International Trade Center.

Jim’s writing career began in 1961-1962 while he was a Washington staff member for U.S. Senator Albert Gore and wrote a weekly column “This Week In D.C. Town” for Tennessee newspapers. Later he was a copy editor and makeup editor at The Atlanta Constitution, managing editor of Music City News in Nashville, editor, general manager and publisher of the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle and its 16 weekly newspapers, and Editor of Tennessee’s Air Reserve The Hickory Flyer newspaper in Nashville. He holds 18 state and national competition awards for news writing and editing, and in 1973 was one of three journalists who drafted the Tennessee Sunshine Law. He was an adjunct journalism instructor at APSU in 1976, and Editor-in-Residence at the University Of Tennessee School Of Journalism in 1977.

In 1976 Jim was an original incorporator and founding Trustee of the Tennessee Press Association Foundation in Knoxville, TN, secured its IRS tax exempt status, and remained an active TPAF. In 2006 he was elected to Honorary Life Member status with the Tennessee Press Association, recognizing his longtime newspaper industry work. He wrote historical fact validations for the Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame and formerly chaired its administrative committee. Starting with his newspaper delivery days as a 9-year-old, Jim Charlet retired as a 33-year career newspaperman.

Throughout his professional life in Clarksville, he engaged in community support as a member of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Airport Board from 1969-1979, and from 1971-1979 as executive committeeman of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. He was President Emeritus of the Austin Peay State University Foundation, and in 1975-1977 was its original incorporator, founding Trustee, and 3-term first President. In 2013 he received the APSU Outstanding Alumni Award.

Jim held a BS degree (1963) in History, English, and Economics from Austin Peay State University. He is a life member of Phi Alpha Theta honor society for historians, Sigma Beta Delta honor society for business and management professionals, Sigma Delta Chi society for professional journalists, and the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars.

When Jim took his last retirement in 1998, he turned to historic research of Tennessee “Scribblers” (a term used to describe reporters), his families’ genealogy, and the story of a World War II Tennessee newspaperman turned spy. He also focused on travel and play with his wife, children and grandchildren, fulfilling what he described as his most important accomplishment – being a father.

Visitation will be on Tuesday, February 17 from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens, Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 9090 Highway 100, Nashville, TN 37221. The funeral service will be at 12:30 p.m. followed immediately at 2:00 p.m.by a military honors ceremony at the Middle Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery, 7931 McCrory Lane, Nashville, TN.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made to the Martha Caldwell Charlet Nursing Endowed Scholarship at Austin Peay State University. Contributions can be made online at https://givetoapsu.com/CaldwellCharlet. Alternatively, checks can be mailed to APSU Foundation, PO Box 4417, Clarksville, TN 37044. Please make checks payable to APSU Foundation and include “Martha Caldwell Charlet Nursing Endowed Scholarship” in the memo line.