Charlie Choate “Flung the Cravin’ On Dee Powell
By Larry Lee, BraceBeagling Editor
November 29, 2003

Charlie and Dee Choate. Charlie "Flung the cravin'" on Dee and it worked! (photo taken during the West Michigan Licensed Trial)

“I flung the cravin’ on Dee and she couldn’t resist me,” said Charlie. “Charlie was right. He flung the cravin’ on me and it worked. We fell in love and we are now man and wife,” stated Dee. “We made it official August 4 during a small ceremony at Charlie’s home in Mississippi.”

By now you probably realize I’m talking about the romance between Mississippi beagler, Charlie Choate and Northeast handler, Dee Powell. Both were separated from their previous mates by death. Charlie lost his wife to cancer two years ago and Dee lost her husband six years ago. I found the story of their romance very interesting and inspiring.

I met the pair while attending a licensed field trial at West Michigan Beagle Club near Greenville, Michigan. They were on the final leg of a trip that would take them to five licensed trials and a visit with Charlie’s boy who lives with his family near Fenton, Michigan.

When Charlie said he flung the cravin’ on Dee during our conversation I had no idea of what he was talking about. Charlie explained it this way. “This is an old Southern expression. When you fling the cravin’ on someone it means you make yourself so irrestible that the person receiving the cravin’ will have to fall in love with you.”

Fall in love she did. It didn’t take long for the cravin’ to work its effect on Dee. She and Charlie met at Tennessee Beagle Club in late winter of this year and less than three months later at the Heartland Federation they knew their relationship was turning into something very special that would be lasting. They both knew they were falling in love!

Both Charlie and Dee said they had always kind of known each other through the brace beagling circle. However, they really met for the first time during the Flint River Licensed Trial in Georgia during the month of January. A couple of weeks previous to Flint River both were at Tennessee Beagle Club and just casually talked as beaglers often do. Dee mentioned that she was going to attend the Flint River trial that was coming up and she said I told Charlie “to just come on down.” So Charlie said he decided to go to Flint River to just run dogs and for no other reason.

When they arrived at Flint River they were both out in the field-training dogs when Dee said she spied Charlie’s golf cart out in the field and because her arthritic knees needed a rest she decided to go over and set on Charlie’s golf cart. Charlie returned to the cart he and Dee began talking about each other’s children, grandchildren, vacation spots and cruises. Dee told Charlie she had never been on a cruise. Dee said Charlie said to me exactly, “Would you like to go on a cruise with me?” Dee said she is very naive and that she told Charlie she would have to think about it before giving him an answer.

So Dee went on handling and Charlie returned to his home in Louisiana. They continued to keep in contact with each other by telephone. Charlie said he called Dee first and they just talked and talked. Dee said they talked everyday during the month of February. Dee said all the time the cruise was on her mind. She said “the question kept coming to my mind as to whether I should go on the cruise or not?”

The next time they met each other was at the Southern Federation in March. Charlie pulled in and Dee helped him set up his camper. She had reserved him a spot. Charlie had three other guys staying with him so they just ate together and cooked out. However, both knew their relationship was growing. Concerning this Charlie said, “We didn’t jump off into anything and didn’t go crazy.” Dee said, “I knew I would be saving Charlie a spot for his camper at the Mid Dixie.” The cravin’ had begun to take effect.

So they left the Southern and both said, “We just kind of followed each other to the Mid Dixie, Heartland and the Midwestern.”

Eventually Dee decided to take Charlie up on his offer to go on a cruise so they made reservations to leave for the Gulf of Mexico crusie on June 15. Dee said she was going to fly down and meet Charlie and go on the cruise and then fly back east and continue handling hounds for another two years until she was 62. She planned on retiring at that time. However, Charlie had other things in mind!

During a conversation on the phone Charlie said to Dee, “Why don’t you just retire right now and come on down and stay?” Dee said, “Right then and there a $200 plane ticket went up in smoke.” I decided to take Charlie up on his offer. So I began to make arrangements to return dogs home to their owners. It wasn’t long before I found myself on the Interstate saying to myself, “Oh, what have I done? I was really worried. It was a long trip from Rhode Island to Mississippi. I had never been to Mississippi and I hadn’t even seen Charlie’s house. I was in for a pleasant surprise.”

Charlie met her at a freeway exit close to his home so he could “show her the way home”
Dee said she followed Charlie to his house but when the paved road turned to dirt the thought again entered my mind, “What have I done? When we arrived I saw a nice little place. The yard was all mowed and the kennels were very nice. I was surprised that I had arranged to move to Mississippi without seeing everything first.”

It was the first of June. It would be two weeks before they would leave on the cruise. Both agreed, “Everything went beautiful during that time period.” The cruise took them around Mexico, Jamaica, and Cancun. It lasted seven days. Charlie said he had reserved the honeymoon suite. “It was well equipped with a balcony and contained huge rooms including a king sized bed and a television and a Jacuzzi.”

After returning from the cruise Charlie and Dee went on a trip “to round stuff up.” They traveled to Michigan to see Charlie’s son and then on to Washington D C. to get Dee’s storage trailer. Then it was on to North Carolina to see Charlie’s brother in-law and then they returned home for several weeks.

They had purchased the marriage license right after returning home from the cruise. Both knew it was only a matter of time before they became man and wife. Neither of them wanted anything elaborate for a wedding so Charlie made arrangements with a friend he previously had worked with who had become a preacher and was now a neighbor. On August 4, 2003 Charlie and Dee became husband and wife in the living room of their home in Mississippi. Dee said, “It’s now legal. We are still on the honeymoon.”

They have combined their field trial dogs and even their housedogs have hit it off without a hitch. Dee has a miniature pincher and Charlie has a longhaired Chihuahua. They were worried that the dogs wouldn’t get along but that has been no problem at all. Both agreed even if the dogs hadn’t cooperated it wouldn’t have stopped the marriage. The cravin’ that Charlie cast on Dee was too strong for that.










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