| S. Charter Weeks
ASHEVILLE - Charter Weeks, late of Asheville, NC, died on July 10, 2024 at a hospice facility with his family by his side.
Son of Silas and Louise F. Weeks, Charter was born in Connecticut and grew up in Durham, New Hampshire. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire having spent an additional year at Rhode Island School of Design where he studied under the renowned photographer Harry Callahan. After a year at the London School of Film Technique, Charter went to New York City and worked as a freelance photographer and filmmaker, including a stint as cinematographer for the BBC. From 1968 through 1972 he worked on projects for the National Sharecroppers Fund, taught at Friends World College in Hiroshima, Japan, and documented natural resources on the coast of Maine for the Nature Conservancy. Charter pursued his photographic career for the rest of his life. His work has appeared in museums, galleries and private collections throughout the US, as well as in journals and books. He is the co-creator (with Keith Flynn) of “Prosperity Gospel: Portraits of the Great Recession,” and “Travelogue: A Photographic Journey,” which features a comprehensive collection of his life’s work, curated and with commentaries by his son, the writer Sebastian Matthews.
In 1971 he moved to Barrington, NH and In 1977 married the writer Marie Harris and together they began Isinglass Marketing, a B2B communications firm.
Charter was one of the founders of Scruton Pond Farm, a loosely organized community of like-minded people who created a neighborhood of hand-built houses and lived in cooperation with each other and the land. SPF continues to thrive more than 50 years on.
Charter was always actively involved with the town that he loved and participated in numerous civic activities including terms on the Select Board, School Board, Planning Board and School Building Committee. He worked across ideological divides to transform the town’s volunteer police force into a professional Police Department with a qualified chief and personnel who were graduates of the state police academy. And he was proud of his role in preventing the construction of a four-lane highway from Rochester to Concord which would have all but destroyed the ecological, commercial and residential integrity of Barrington and many other small towns along the proposed route.
Charter was a sailor and a world traveler. He was the founder and guiding light of the Barrington Zen Center. And he touched many lives. He was valued for his honesty and forthrightness and his generosity of spirit. His last act was to donate his body to the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He was a loving father to his three sons Will Matthews of Seattle WA, Sebastian Matthews of Asheville NC, and Manny Weeks of Rochester NH. He is survived as well by his wife, his daughters-in-law Alison Climo and Julie Matthews, his sister, Charity Weeks of Charlestown NH, five grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Contributions in memory of Charter Weeks may be made to the hospice that cared for him: Four Seasons Foundation; 211 N Main St; Hendersonville, NC (www.FourSeasonsFDN.org), the outreach organization for people in need: BeLoved Asheville; PO Box 6386; Asheville, NC 28816 (www.belovedasheville.com), and the Barrington Community Food Pantry; PO Box 208; Barrington, NH 03825
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