Charnell Walls graduated from Diboll High School in 1987. She went on to become a flight attendant for United Airlines. After being laid off in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, she attended aviation school at the University of Oklahoma. There she joined the OU Chapter of Women in Aviation and obtained her pilot’s license in 2020. She has donated materials related to her status as a pilot as she is possibly the first African-American woman to become a pilot from Diboll. Her collection contains copies of her licenses, certificates, photographs, and news articles related to her training and career as a pilot.