28-02-2025
Carolyn Champion, wife of Dr. Charles Champion, dies
MEMPHIS. Tenn. — Mrs. Carolyn Bailey Champion, wife of renowned pharmacist Dr. Charles Champion and business manager of their famous pharmacy, has reportedly died.
The Champion family announced her death on Thursday evening.
'It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of our matriarch and the wife of late Dr. Charles A. Champion, Mrs. Carolyn Bailey Champion,' the family said in a statement. 'We mourn her departure but celebrate her incredible life and legacy. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and friend.'
At 89, Dr. Champion and his herbal pharmacy still have healing touch
Carolyn married Charles Champion, who was the first Black pharmacist to work at a Memphis hospital, in 1958. The two opened Champion's Pharmacy in South Memphis in 1981.
More than 40 years after its opening, the business now operates on Elvis Presley Boulevard and is led by Carolyn and Charles' daughter Dr. Carol 'Cookie' Champion.
Carolyn was also the daughter of Walter and Loree Bailey, who owned the Lorraine Hotel at the time of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, assassination.
Charles Champion died at 92 in January 2023.
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