Chicken for Charles: A Recent Visit with ‘Moondog’

There are some days when Charles won’t shut up and others when he’s a man of few words.

One moment, the lifelong East Wheeling resident will tell you he’s missed you since he’s been hospitalized in Peterson Rehabilitation for the past three years, and then minutes later the 63-year-old will inform you he doesn’t want to talk any longer.

Charles Waldrum, one of nine children raised by a single mother, was an iconic figure in the city of Wheeling for more than three decades, but since 2015 several health issues led to multiple hospitalizations since 2015. Diabetes was not Waldrum’s friend, and wounds on his left leg eventually forced a partial amputation of the limb.

No longer could “Moondog” cruise the streets of the Friendly City on his flagged bicycle while visiting people at Convenient or Neely’s or at the 7-Eleven. So, instead of Lane 13, Charles now resides in Peterson.

“Yeah, I miss it out there. I miss the nighttime. The people at the stores,” he said this past Friday. “They were nice.”

Charles carries a scanner in the hospital’s so he can continue following his beloved first responders at all times of the day, and, although Waldrum was found to have set a fire on Wheeling Island when he was just a boy, “Moondog’s” relationship with the city’s firefighters remains locally legendary.

Charles is a kind soul who doesn’t always like to place his good nature on display. Instead, he gets ornery.

Oh, and before you offer, “Moondog” is allowed to eat what he wishes … and trust me, he WILL remember you. 

“DiCarlo’s or fried chicken, Charles?” I ask. 

(WARNING: You never know what his answer will be, and, when delivery takes place, he usually wants the other at that moment in time.)

“Chicken,” he answered last Sunday. “But not that Kentucky crap this time. Neely’s. And legs. Legs only, OK?”

And so it was, five chicken wings wrapped up with love by the ladies at Neely’s. 

I showed him the legs, and then the written note on the top of the box, and I asked if he wanted to say anything to the people of Wheeling.

“Oh, I don’t know Steve Novotney … Um, I don’t know. You got me all caught up ….”

That’s when I told him to think about it while I went to visit family, and when I came back, he could tell me. 

“OK, Steve Novotney.”

A half-hour later …

“You tell them hi,” Charles instructed. 

Is that it?

“Hi, Wheeling.”