Posted by Terry Powers on January 7, 2023:

CHARLES E. CHEEVER JR. 1949 Cullum No. 17077-1949 | October 29, 2021 | Died in San Antonio, TX Interred at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, TX Charles Emmett 'Charlie' Cheever Jr. - banker, civic leader, philanthropist, and family man - was born on May 17, 1928 at Fort McKinley, an Army base in Manila, Philippines, where his father was stationed. Charlie was the son of Colonel Cheever Sr. and Elizabeth Daley Cheever. Charlie died October 29, 2021 of complications from a stroke. Charlie grew up on the campus of West Point, where his father, a JAG officer, taught military law to young cadets from 1939 to 1942. Cheever Sr. served under General George S. Patton and was a prosecutor for the war crimes trials at Dachau and Nuremberg. In 1941, the elder Cheever and his wife, "Betty," co-founded Broadway Bank in San Antonio, TX, a bank started for military personnel. Tragically, the first loan ever recorded on the books was charged off. The West Point soldier never came home from World War II. As an Army brat, Charlie went to five high schools in four years but never graduated (a fact always raised by his children when he critiqued their report cards). To his horror, Charlie was assigned Russian as his foreign language and immediately and quietly traded with his roommate Frank Wollack for French. He failed to command that language, or any other language, but he did master lifelong friendships with many '49ers, including Faulkner Heard, "T-Willy" Trieschman, "Punch" Jameson and Jack Hammack. Charlie loved everything about West Point. As a plebe, he was the second-string goalie on the ice hockey team, but that was short-lived. One afternoon, he was subbed in for the All-American West Point goalie Raymond Moss, who was hurt. Charlie was eventually benched but not before failing to block eight goals. He wasn't terribly upset at his disaster debut since it earned him a spot "on the training table." While there, Charlie learned to eat fast, a trait that he never outgrew. One Christmas, his children gifted him a "special" fork with alternate green and red lights, to slow the pace of his intake. After graduating from West Point, Charlie was stationed at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, TX, where he was a pilot instructor flying the T-6, F-51, T-33, F-80, and the F-86. His fighter call sign was "Thunder 1," and he regaled his children with tales of ditching a plane in a corn field and another incident during which the cockpit heater was stuck on high. He nearly fainted, and the heat melted the polish off his shoes, which ruined the floor of "a damn good plane." It was in 1950 when a young elementary school teacher from El Paso, TX, Sally McKinney, flew under his radar. Two years after that blind date, the couple married and had six children: Suzanne Goudge (Jim), Cece Cheever (Tim McHugh), Jean Cheever, Joan Cheever (Dennis Quinn), Charlie Cheever III (Regina) and Christopher Cheever, all who survive him. Sally died in 2004. After retiring from the military, Charlie graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1957. He intended to practice law in El Paso, but the largest law firm there offered him only half of Sally's schoolteacher pay. His parents told Charlie, "If you're going to starve that way, we can starve you," and so with four children under the age of 3, he started at the Broadway Bank as a vice president and never looked back. Charlie was elected president in 1961; chairman and CEO in 1982, and chairman emeritus upon his retirement in 2005. He guided the bank through the hard-hitting recession of the late 1980s and personally took charge of Broadway's problem loans, temporarily stepping down from his executive role to become a work-out man. Throughout his life, Charlie embraced the spirit of giving back to the community. A devout Catholic, Charlie was co-chairman of the San Fernando Cathedral Restoration Project and a trustee of the University of the Incarnate Word. He also served as co-chair of numerous capital campaigns, including the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas and Army Retirement Community. In the banking world, Charlie served as the president of the Texas Bankers Association, director of the San Antonio Branch of the Federal Reserve and regional director of the American Bankers Association. When he joined Broadway Bank, total deposits were just over $11 million with one location; due to his vision, a great leadership team and innovation, Broadway Bank has grown to assets of $5 billion with 33 branch locations. In 2016, Charlie was elected to the Texas Business Hall of Fame. For many decades, Charlie and "T. Willy" co-hosted legendary Army-Navy football parties. In 1993, while on a tour of the U.S. Naval Academy, a guide asked for a volunteer to make "a silent wish" in front of the sacred monument, Tecumseh. When asked if he had made the silent wish, Charlie quickly exclaimed: "Yes. My wish is that Army beats Navy in perpetuity." It's a good thing Charlie was not a gambling man. In the 70 years since his graduation, Navy bested Army 43 times versus Army's 26 victories with three ties. After Sally's death, Charlie reconnected with his sweetheart from the University of the Incarnate Word, and, in 2005, he married the widowed Nancy Jones Shary of Mission, TX. Three months after Charlie's death, Nancy passed away on January 27, 2022. In addition to his children, Charlie is also survived by his sister, Jane Cheever Powell, nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

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