Photo Essayist: Charles Alexander meets Barack Obama

*Editor's Note: Every week, we will be bringing you a set of photographs taken by our photo essay staff. Any opinions conveyed via the photographs or commentary are those of the essayist and are not representative of Austinist as a whole.*

*Editor's Note: This week's essay runs a day late.*

The following has been provided by essayist Patrick Dentler, who has spent the last month in Colorado volunteering for the Obama campaign.

Charles Alexander meets Barack Obama -

On Sunday, October 26, eight days before Election Day, Sen. Barack Obama held a rally with over 100,000 people in downtown Denver, Colorado--the capital of a state that has voted for a Republican in nine out of the last ten presidential elections. One of those people in the crowd that day was 86-year old Charles Alexander, a Boulder resident that has lived a remarkable life, combated a variety of hardships and out of it all personified a true American story, with a life dedicated to family and service.

Born in East Texas, Charles lived through the torrid history of the early 1900's--in the South--and went on to fight for his country in World War II and The Korean War. He returned injured, volunteered on political campaigns for the last forty years and continued an eventful life with his wife and children. He was married to her for 69 years before she passed away just a matter of weeks before these images were taken.

Charles entered the volunteer raffle contest to meet Barack Obama at the Boulder field office where he works--and won. He was able to shake hands, engage and even show off a picture of his wife with the man who might very well be the first black president of The United States. Word spread to the Barack Obama official website, which created a video about him, netting over 200,000 in a little less than a day. His story has been covered on The Daily Kos, The Huffington Post and several other blogs.

Charles, a man who cast his first ballot for FDR, just voted early for Barack Obama.

Visit Patrick's Flickr to see more from this series.