Charles Waldrop

Longtime local businessman Charles Wert Waldrop passed away Thursday. He was 89.

The founder of Waldrop Appliance, a local mainstay from the 1960s all the way through the late 1990s, Waldrop was a Cullman native and military veteran who served in the U.S. Army before returning home and founding his appliance store in his late 20s.

One of the anchor stores of Cullman’s busy downtown thoroughfare along U.S. Highway 31 through its nearly four decades in business, Waldrop Appliance closed in 1997, with Waldrop devoting more attention to his retirement hobby of cattle farming.

Born in 1929 to Cullman natives Thomas and Leavie Patterson Waldrop, Charles is survived by his widow, Frances Fine Waldrop, and his sons, Michael and Dr. Gregory Waldrop. He was a member of member of Welti Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Funeral arrangements for Mr. Waldrop are being handled by Moss Service; a special celebration of his life is planned at the funeral home on Sunday at 2 p.m.