BENTONVILLE — The morning of Jan. 7, 2021, CJ Charlton

passed away at the age of 78, surrounded by family at Circle of Life in Bentonville.

He was a loving husband, father, grandpa, friend, and mentor to many.

CJ was born July 15, 1942, to James and Bessie Charlton in Ironton, Mo. He married Gay Gibson Oct. 4, 1974, in Lebanon, Mo., and they had two children, Jeremy and Emmy.

CJ and Gay moved to Bella Vista, Ark., from St. Louis, Mo., in 1976, where he began a career at Walmart. He spent seven years working at Walmart and was the first Corporate Traffic Manager. Over the next 10 years, CJ continued to develop his leadership skills and ran various trucking companies in the area before owning his own logistics company, ETA Transportation. CJ and Gay sold ETA in 2000 but he continued to work and consult in the logistics industry over the next 20 years mentoring many individuals along the way. Working and helping others develop was a passion of CJ’s and in 2019 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Reverse Logistics Industry.

In 1981, CJ and Gay bought land outside of Bentonville, where they would build the family home and farm. This is not only where his children grew up but where his grandchildren played, swam and spent time with grandpa and grandma. CJ adored his grandchildren and didn’t miss a baseball game; gymnastics meet or any other event they participated in. CJ and Gay loved to travel, especially to Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas, and he never met a video poker machine he could pass up.

CJ was proceeded in death by his mother, father and sister Dorothy.

Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Gay Charlton of Bentonville; brother, Mike Charlton (Jacque) of DeSoto, Mo.; and sister, Marion Schweitzer (Paul) of McLean, Ill.; son, Jeremy Charlton (Kim) of Bentonville; daughter, Emmy Werst (Kyle) of Bentonville; five grandchildren, Parker, Reagan, Ethan, Abby and Maddy.

Visitation will be held at Bella Vista Funeral Home and Crematory Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, from 5-7 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in CJ’s name to either Autism Involves Me (AIM) www.aimnwa.org/donate or Fighting Childhood Cancer www.play4jarren.org.

Save the date, the family will be hosting a Celebration of Life for CJ this summer at the family farm July 17, 2021.

Fond memories and condolences may be shared at www.funeralmation.com .