‘The uncommon, common man.’ Ex-NC Sen. Fountain Odom, devoted public servant, has died.
Fountain Odom was raised the son of sharecroppers in a Charlotte we can only imagine now, vast acres of farmland long ago blanketed by buildings and roads.
Wilkinson Boulevard didn’t exist when Odom’s parents thought the Queen City would be a fine place to finally settle and farm, off what is now that main bustling artery.
Odom’s dad worked farming and construction jobs on a route from their native south Georgia to the shipyards of Virginia and finally into North Carolina, Fountain Odom’s son Tommy told The Charlotte Observer on Friday.
Like his parents before him, Fountain Odom fell in love with Charlotte and North Carolina, his deep admiration evident through his lifetime of public service, Tommy Odom said.
He was a lawyer, former Mecklenburg County commissioner and a former state senator credited with helping pass key environmental protections across the county and state, Tommy Odom said.
“He loved North Carolina,” Tommy Odom said, calling his charismatic dad “way ahead of his time” in his efforts to protect farmland and the overall environment.
Thomas LaFontine “Fountain” Odom died on Tuesday, Nov. 28, after a lengthy illness, his family said. He was 85.
A man of many interests
Odom was known as “the uncommon, common man,” his family said, citing “just a few” of the many hats he wore: Music composer. Aviator. Apiarist. World traveler. Master rose gardener.
(Deep breath here).
Christmas tree farmer. Wood worker. Baseball coach. Harmonica player.
Yes, his dad won awards for his rose gardens on the family farm in Steele Creek, but Tommy Odom said he and his sister and two brothers looked at those gardens a bit differently.
Tommy Odom, who is 62, recalled the grief he and his siblings gave their dad as he had them pick up all the thorny rose bush trimmings every blessed Saturday morning.
The kids moaned so much one day that his dad collected all of the bushes and tossed them out for good.
Was it coincidence that he entered politics around the same time? Tommy Odom asked with a laugh. Tommy Odom practiced law with his dad for two decades after they opened their own firm.
Life on the farm
Tommy Odom described the family’s mid-1900s farm as more of a “hobby farm” with goats, chickens, pigs, a Shetland pony and “sometimes, cows.”
His dad was a full-time lawyer when Tommy Odom was born in 1961.
“He was a fun, good guy,” Tommy Odom said. “And he always had so many good stories he’d share with people. He did so many good things.”
The family received many texts over the past week from people expressing how much he helped them one way or another and how much he meant to them, Tommy Odom said.
Parents’ inspiration
Born in a hospital for the poor in Rocky Mount, Fountain Odom told his kids how his parents greatly influenced his future pursuits — by their work ethic, welcoming attitude and emphasis on education.
Odom considered his parents, Thomas Quitman “T.Q” Odom and Laura Pearl Carter Odom, as the smartest people he’d ever met despite their seventh grade educations, his family said.
He got his nickname as a boy attending the former Berryhill School in Charlotte. As his family recounted, an exasperated teacher blurted to the young chatterbox one day: “Words flow from your mouth like water from a fountain!”
Odom was elected senior class president at West Mecklenburg High School in 1956 and became the first member of his family to attend college.
He worked to pay his way first through two years at Charlotte College (now UNC Charlotte) and then UNC Chapel Hill, his family said.
He graduated from UNC School of Law in 1962, two years after marrying his high school sweetheart, the former Jane Lowe. The couple had four children and had been married for 39 years when Jane Odom died in 1999.
In 2002, Odom married the former Carmen Hooker. They enjoyed traveling around the world and living in Raleigh, Manteo, New York City and Charlotte. In 2004, they hiked Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
“My dad always said he married up twice in his life,” Tommy Odom said.
Life in politics
Odom, a Democrat, served 14 years as a state senator, six years as a Mecklenburg County commissioner and six years on the Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Commission.
He helped create thousands of acres of nature preserves, miles upon miles of greenways and numerous parks in the county.
In the senate, he co-sponsored the landmark 1996 legislation that established the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, now called the NC Land & Water Fund.
The fund has conserved at least 500,000 acres and protected or restored 3,000 miles of streams and rivers across North Carolina.
He crafted many pieces of legislation with friend and fellow N.C. Sen. Marc Basnight, including measures benefiting public education, jobs and health care. Basnight was the longest-serving N.C. Senate leader who died in 2020 at age 73.
Odom disliked divisive politics, his family said, although his backing of a 2001 bill declaring the Scuppernong grape the state fruit riled blueberry and strawberry supporters.
Legislators compromised, making the Scuppernong grape the state fruit and the blueberry and strawberry the state berries.
Protecting the public
Former State Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, said he considered Odom a friend despite some philosophical differences as members of opposite parties.
“I always considered Fountain a friend, before we served in the Senate and when we served,” Rucho, who now lives in Wilmington, told the Observer.
Their goal, he said, was always to work together on measures to protect residents of the county and statewide through environmental and other initiatives.
Odom at the same time was instrumental in funding new programs and buildings at UNC Charlotte, Rucho said.
And he “helped land the package of financing to get Johnson & Wales,” said Dan Clodfelter, referring to the culinary university’s uptown Charlotte campus.
In the Senate, he and Aaron Plyler of Union County secured whatever state funding Mecklenburg needed, Clodfelter said.
A fellow Democrat, Clodfelter served on Charlotte City Council when Odom was on the county planning commission and later the county board of commissioners. Then they both served in the NC Senate.
Odom worked to protect the environment long before others, Clodfelter said. “He was there at the beginning of the Catawba Lands Conservancy,” for example, Clodfelter said.
Rucho and Clodfelter also recalled Odom’s energetic, outgoing and collegial spirit.
“He was an Energizer bunny,” said Clodfelter, former interim Charlotte mayor.
Rucho recalled the camaraderie of a group of about 20 Republican and Democratic legislators who dined together at Piccola Italia in Raleigh’s Village District, formerly Cameron Village, when the General Assembly was in session.
Odom was a prominent member of the group, where legislators talked about their families and whatever they liked to do outside of politics, he said.
“He was a very honorable guy, and a man you could call a friend,” Rucho said.
Odom narrowly lost the 2004 Democratic primary for his Senate seat to Malcolm Graham.
His long political career had ended, he told the Observer at the time.
”I doubt that you will see my name on the ballot again,” he said. “I’ve offered myself. I wanted to go back. But the voters, a small majority of the voters, have spoken, and so I’m going to abide by that.”
A celebration of life is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, at Steele Creek Presbyterian Church at Pleasant Hill, 15000 York Road in Charlotte.
After the service, the family will receive friends in the church fellowship hall.
Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave. in Charlotte. Online condolences can be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.
