Foreman, Charles Steel, Jr.

Held Long Medical Career With The U.S. Army; Civic Leader In Chattanooga

  • Saturday, July 11, 2020
Charles Foreman
Charles Foreman

Dr. Charles Steel Foreman, Jr., 68, of Hixson, Tennessee, returned to the Lord on Saturday, July 4, 2020.

Dr. Foreman was delivered by his midwife grandmother, Ada Ash Foreman, on Aug. 19, 1951, at the home of his late parents Charles Steele Foreman, Senior, and Inez Williams Foreman of Demopolis, Al.  

A lifelong Christian and gifted student, Dr. Foreman joined Oak Grove Baptist Church at age six. He sang in the choir and on the church’s radio program each Sunday morning on WXAL in Demopolis. He also served as Oak Grove’s assistant Sunday School superintendent. In the 11th grade, he transferred from U.S. Jones High School and integrated Demopolis High School in 1967. The only Black student in his class, he excelled academically and played on the varsity basketball, football, and track teams. He was Demopolis High’s first Black graduate in 1969.

Dr. Foreman’s abiding commitment to scholarship and public service continued beyond his graduation from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, with a bachelor of science degree in microbiology in 1973.  While in college, he joined the U.S. Army ROTC and later attended Meharry Medical College on a military scholarship. After receiving his doctor of medicine degree in 1978, he interned at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. Flight surgeon school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, came next, and his first military assignment was as a flight surgeon at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. He completed his residency in Obstetrics/Gynecology at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Tx., in 1983. After his residency, he was stationed at Ireland Army Hospital in Fort Knox, Ky., where he was promoted to Chief of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Service.  Dr. Foreman served in the U.S. Army Ready Reserve until his retirement as a lieutenant colonel in 2004. He earned a master of public health in health care organization and policy and a master of business administration in management in 1997 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He was a life fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He maintained membership in the Mountain City Medical Society, the National Medical Association, and the Georgia Obstetrical Gynecological Society.

Dr. Foreman was a pillar of Chattanooga’s Black community and involved in several civic and community service organizations. Dr. Foreman was a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He served as Polemarch of the Chattanooga Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi and President of the Kappa Foundation of Chattanooga from 2018 until his death. He was actively involved in planning the Annual Hamilton County Minority Health Fair and HBCU College Fair/5K. A life member of the NAACP, he was also a member of the Kiwanis Club of Chattanooga and Orchard Knob Missionary Baptist Church. His other hobbies included reading, sports, traveling,playing guitar, mentoring students, and spending time with family and friends.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brothers Douglas Foreman and Elijah Beard.

Those left to lovingly cherish his memory include his friend Dr. Valerie Boaz, and his former wife, Dr. Marilyn Foreman; daughters Sophia Simpkins and her husband Dickey Simpkins,Kamilah, Anil, and Chinue Foreman; grandchildren, Jazmin, Niko, Jayla, and Jaxson Simpkins; sisters, Doris Foreman and Andrea Foreman; nephews and nieces Vincent Beard and his wife Julia Beard, Daphne Foreman, Douglas Foreman, and Nikita Ussin; several grand-nieces and grand-nephews also survive.

The care of Dr. Foreman has been entrusted to John P. Franklin Funeral Home, 1101 Dodds Ave., 423 622-9995. There will be a public visitation on Monday, July 13, from 2–6 p.m. at the funeral home, and the homegoing and burial services will be private family ceremonies. 

Donations can be made in his name to Meharry Medical College, Gift Management Services, 1005 Dr. D.B. Todd, Jr. Boulevard, Nashville, Tn. 37208, or the Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation of Chattanooga, P.O. Box 8753, Chattanooga, Tn. 37414.

His family also asks that you wear a mask and practice social distancing to honor his profession and protect the public’s health, to which he was devoted, and that you remember to vote.

To leave an online condolence, story, or message, please visit https://memorials.johnpfranklinfh.com/dr-charles-s--foreman-jr/4256701/index.php.

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