She attended the Katherine Delmar Burke School and lived the life of a wealthy San Franciscan of the time.

[2] Her family was closely connected with the San Francisco Bay Area arts community.

[2] The San Francisco Chronicle's late art critic Alfred Frankenstein reviewed her showing at the Pomeroy Gallery in 1968, and said Charleston had a "wonderful eye" for flowers -- "totally charming, decorative and delectable.

"[2] Most of her works were impressionist oil paintings of flowers and the French countryside.

[11] Charleston is popular with San Francisco Bay Area collectors, including Laura King Pfaff (chairman of Bonhams & Butterfields, the world's third largest auction house).