Charlotte Eriksen Charter has always known her own mind.

The Pontiac native knew she would go to work after high school. Upon graduating in 1942, she took a job at General Motors and learned the International Business Machines data entry process.

Her childhood sweetheart and future husband, Joseph Charter, joined the U.S. Marines and was serving in Guadalcanal among other places. In 1944, Charlotte signed up for the U.S. Navy’s new unit, called the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service or WAVES.Her father was flummoxed. Why would she give up a good job at GM for the military? Her mother didn’t say much, “but she wasn’t against it,” Charlotte recalled, adding that her mom was very proud of her 21-month service in the military.

Charlotte was part of a Washington D.C.-based code-breaking team. She couldn’t talk about her work for 50 years.

On May 27, Charter marks her 100th birthday. On Sunday, she’ll be awarded a Living Legend proclamation from the Military Women’s Memorial.

The organization honors women from all services dating back to the Continental Army and the Revolutionary War.

Living Legend honors are for 100-year-old female veterans or women with outstanding military service, said Rhea Pruett, a retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 and the memorial’s Michigan ambassador. Pruett served in both the active-duty Army and the Michigan Army National Guard.

“Everyone has a story and an opportunity to say, “Maybe it was the best thing I did in my life,’” Pruett said. “Anything that makes you a better person is a good thing.”

Fewer than 15% of active-duty military are women, Pruett said, adding, “as a whole the military represents a fraction of the U.S. population. We’re not taking away what men in service do. But it’s time for women to have a voice.”

Charlotte — everyone calls her “Char” — doesn’t think of herself as a legend.

She headed for eight weeks in boot camp at a New York college campus traveling by train in 107-degree weather. She learned about every kind of naval vessel and the purpose of each, even though she was never assigned to any of them. Other recruits learned to swim; she had been an avid swimmer at Pontiac High School.

The Navy transferred her to a Washington office where she applied her GM training to military work that used IBM technology.

“At GM, I worked on part numbers for cars. … That was my specialty,” she said.

Her Navy work required a top-secret clearance and involved printing encoded messages. She has no idea what the messages said, “but I couldn’t talk about it for 50 years. I signed many a paper after that to keep it secret,” she said. “I didn’t know what the code said until my husband and I were talking about what happened in the Pacific and I put it together.”

Joseph Charter died in 1982.

Her big adventure in the Navy included making three close friends from Massachusetts, Tennessee and Minnesota, who delighted in exploring the nation’s capital. Charlotte learned to navigate the city as easily as she did her hometown. Just shy of two years later, the war and her military life were over.

Charlotte returned to Michigan and started a family. The couple had six children. She joined the American Legion Auxiliary, Chief Pontiac Post 377 that is now in Clarkston.

Charlotte learned a big-but-simple lesson during her military service.

“War is not an answer. You should go to extreme measures to have peace,” she said, adding that she can’t think of two people in her life she’s ever had a conflict with. “I just live one day at a time.”

And she doesn’t dwell on her military experience.

“I was just an ordinary person doing what’s right,” she said, adding that “we sort of raised our kids in a military style.”

“What she did was huge. She’s a trailblazer,” Pruett said.

Despite her expertise with technology 80 years ago, Charlotte says she “doesn’t follow the internet much … so I feel I’m somewhat ignorant.”

She prefers getting together with friends or anyone in her family, which now includes her children, 11 grandchildren, eight great grandchildren and three great, great grandchildren.

“I have a big family and I’m proud of each and every one of them,” she said.

Charlotte remains active at Christ Lutheran Church in Waterford Township, enjoys assembling jigsaw puzzles, exercising and drinking an occasional 7UP.

There’s no secret to living a long life, she said, other than a good diet, good behavior and good genes. Her mom lived to 101 years and six months.

One of Charlotte’s daughters-in-law, Cindy Edwards, said her legacy is one of faith, patience, strength and independence.

“She persevered and managed to learn and do all these different things,” Edwards said. “She’s so determined — once she is going to do something she follows through with it.”

To celebrate her 99th birthday, Charlotte took a long ride near the Betsie River, which runs through Benzie and Manistee counties with some of her adult children. She rode in a wheelchair with seat belts that was attached to the front of a bike. Family members rode their bikes with her.

“It was a really cool way to celebrate her birthday,” Edwards said.

The Rev. Stephanie Newman, of Christ Lutheran, said Charlotte “exudes love and positivity. She always has a smile on her face. Her unwavering faith is a testament to God’s love.”

Newman said Charlotte is a pillar of the community and matriarch of the church.

“We’re so thrilled to honor her,” Newman said, recalling a recent conversation with Charlotte, who said she’d like her funeral luncheon to include a variety of meatballs. “I told her ‘We’re not waiting for your funeral! You can have all the meatballs you want.’”

Charlotte will be honored during the 10 a.m. Sunday service at the church, 5987 Williams Lake Road in Waterford, and during an 11 a.m. celebratory potluck luncheon with many types of meatballs.

Learn more about the Military Women’s Memorial online at https://womensmemorial.org or visit Pruett at the Selfridge Air show on June 8 and 9. Learn more at teamselfridge.com.