CARVER, CHARLES (1915-1982). Charles Carver, writer and teacher, was born on June 19, 1915, in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, the son of Alexander Henry and Gertrude (Nason) Carver. After graduating from St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., he attended Yale University, where he received his B.A. degree in 1938. He married Elizabeth Preston in April 1836, and they had a daughter. At Yale, Carver served as editor of the Yale Literary Magazine; he altered the format of the publication to include photographs, student drawings, and feature columns. In 1939, after a year's apprenticeship with the Reynal and Hitchcock publishing company, he became assistant editor of the Journal of Accounting, a professional magazine for certified public accountants. He served in the navy in World War IIqv and rose in rank from ensign to lieutenant in command of a mine sweeper. He was stationed off Sicily and Salerno before the Allied invasions of those islands. He subsequently taught navigation and seamanship for nine months before receiving a transfer to another command in Okinawa. The ship transporting Carver to Okinawa capsized during a typhoon a short distance from its destination, and Carver and the other survivors were in the water for four hours before being rescued.
After his discharge from the navy Carver and his wife moved to Texas, first to Weatherford and then to Waco. He ran an ad agency and, as a freelance writer, published short stories in Esquire, Collier's, American, and other magazines. He taught play writing part-time at Baylor University from 1947 to 1950. He was a member of the Episcopal Church and served as president of the Waco Civic Theater. In Waco he also wrote a book about William Cowper Brann,qv Brann and the Iconoclast, published by the University of Texas Pressqv in 1957. Carver moved to New York that year and joined the staff of an ad agency in Manhattan. He retired in 1966 and spent his summers in Blue Hill, Maine, and his winters in Pound Ridge, New York. He died in Blue Hill on July 27, 1982.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl
