Charles Luther Claunch Jr. was born at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 18, 1935. He attended the Bright School in Chatt. and then McCallie School, also in Chattanooga. He has a brother Nathan Colvard, born June 18, 1938, and a sister Mary Margaret, born February 27, 1943. He attended Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va. from 1952 through 1956, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree from there, with a major in biology. He was initiated into Mu Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity on June 5, 1953.