OBITUARY ~ Charles "TATTOO CHARLIE" Wheeler, 56 - Louisville Icon who coined the phrase: "Tattoos while you wait"
The Kentucky Wizard
So long, Charlie, you were one cool guy and a true Brother Mason,
Wiz....
WHEELER, CHARLES "TATTOO CHARLIE," 56, of Louisville, passed away Friday,
September 14, 2007 at Jewish Hospital. He was the founder and owner of
Tattoo Charlie's tattoo studio. He was a member of Pleasure Ridge Park Lodge
959, Louisville Scottish Rite, Kosair Shrine Temple, Patriot Guard, the Blue
Knights, past president Kosair Director Staff, past president Kosair Street
Machines, past commodore Kosair Boat Club, charter member of Kosair
Roustabouts, past president and charter member of Kosair Mini Wheels, member
of the 32 Club, past camaxtli Order of Quetzalcoatl, Kosair Motor Corp.,
Kentucky Colonel, member of the Louisville Harley Owners Group, Louisville
Boat Harbor Member, the Islanders Club, president Bullitt County Motor
Corp., Hillbilly Clan of Ashland, KY, and originator of Toys for Tots in
Hardin Co. and Bullitt Co. He is survived by his son, Buddy Wheeler;
grandchildren, Zelda Marianna, Kain and Shaolin; brother, George Brown;
sister, Linda Toebbe; and many loving friends. His service will be held at 2
p.m. Monday at Owen Funeral Home, 5317 Dixie Hwy., with burial in
Garnnettsville Cemetery. Visitation will be Saturday, 3-9 p.m., and Sunday,
2-9 p.m. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, the family would like
expressions of sympathy to be made to Hospice of Louisville.
Published in The Courier-Journal on 9/15/2007.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770914052
(photo of Charlie on website)
People 'couldn't help but love' Tattoo Charlie
'All he did was take care of other people'
Charlie Wheeler, better known as "Tattoo Charlie," the proprietor of the
"Done While You Wait" tattoo studios, died today at Jewish Hospital after a
sudden illness. He was 56.
"It's what he devoted himself to and he had an absolute love for it," his
son, Buddy Wheeler, said today of the tattoo business.
"I learned tattooing from an old tattoo artist," Charlie Wheeler once told
The Courier-Journal. "It's handed down from one generation to the next."
He planned to retire next year, his son said.
"He's been grooming me to take over the business," Buddy Wheeler said.
The elder Wheeler told the newspaper tattooing was "the role of my life."
"When you get a tattoo, you're putting an external image of your internal
self," he said. "You show people you're different."
A native of Louisville's South End, Wheeler graduated from Pleasure Ridge
Park High School and worked in the auto department of J.C. Penney, his son
said, before taking up his art around the age of 21. He had a tattoo studio
in Fort Knox for about five years before moving shop to Louisville.
The first Tattoo Charlie's opened on Berry Boulevard, where it remains in
business 32 years later. At times, his was the only tattoo studio in
Louisville. When the popularity of tattoos peaked in the 1990s, there were
six locations, including one in Lexington, also still in business.
There are four current locations, as well as a Tattoo Museum in Shively
which opened in 1999, but was temporarily closed earlier this year. Buddy
Wheeler plans to relocate and reopen the museum soon, he said yesterday.
"He had been collecting tattoo memorabilia that was in danger of being lost
for years and years," his son said of Wheeler's decision to establish a
museum. "He saw the value in it."
Wheeler also recognized the value of a slogan he noticed on a sign in a
Florida tattoo studio in the late 1960s and "thought it was absolute
genius," said his son.
The elder Wheeler asked the owner's permission to borrow the slogan, "Done
While You Wait," before making it his own.
The original "Tattoo Charlie's: Done While You Wait" billboard along
Interstate 65 northbound between Elizabethtown and Louisville made the
business something of a Louisville icon.
There have been two other billboards at times, but the original is the only
one left and "absolutely" will remain, Buddy Wheeler said. "It's been on
Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman."
The business was described in one Courier-Journal story as a place where
"art overshadows business and principle comes before profit."
Wheeler's principles included: no satanic, anti-Semitic or racist tattoos;
none done on the hands, feet or face; and none for anyone intoxicated or
under 18 years of age.
Wheeler also prided himself on his mission to talk people out of bad ideas,
like tattoos of names.
"Names change, but a tattoo is permanent," he often said.
"I've never talked anybody into a tattoo," he said. "I've talked a lot of
people out of tattoos."
Burly and long-haired, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and suspenders, often on
his Harley Davidson, Wheeler's appearance could mislead people about his
character, but usually just once.
"His looks were quite deceiving," said Gary Fields, a close friend and
former Jefferson County Police officer. "When I was Potentate of Kosair
Shrine Temple in 1995, Charlie came through and became a Shriner. . It was
kind of funny to see this great big tattooed guy sitting in the back of the
room."
"Little did I know then," Fields said, "that this was gonna be a guy who was
gonna leave such a mark - on my life and so many lives."
Fields praised Wheeler's dedication to children in particular, citing his
frequent appearances as Santa Claus at the Home of the Innocents; his work
at Camp Quality in Leitchfield, Ky., which serves children with cancer, who
looked forward to rides in the sidecar of Charlie's motorcycle; and his work
starting Toys for Tots drives in Hardin and Bullitt counties.
"You couldn't help but love the guy," retired attorney Jerry Steinberg said
yesterday. "When he first came to me, it was to try to get custody of his
child. I looked at him and told him, 'We're not gonna win. Look at those
things on your hands.'?"
"He said, 'just listen to my story,'?" Fields said. "We won the custody and
from then on we became the best of friends. . He was the most decent person
I ever met. I mean, I've never met a person like him."
"Nobody has any idea the amount of money and time and energy he put out
there," said Fields, who represented Wheeler until he retired from
practicing law.
"When he wasn't at work, all he did was take care of other people. . This is
a great loss, not just to his family and friends, but to the community."
--
Never argue with an idiot; they'll drag you down to their level and beat you
with experience.
© The Wiz ®
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