Who is Charlie?

Charlie is a surrogate son, former student, and close pal for 50+ years. We spent some time trying to solve math puzzles, trying to put on good plays, and just hanging out. He couldn't find a math teacher who liked puzzles, so I was elected. (For one thing, I had a blackboard in my room, of course. For another thing, I enjoy puzzles...my favorite being cryptograms. I like arithmetic, too, considerably short of geometry, etc.) We got acquainted when I was recruiting students to be in the first play at Charleston (IL) HS, 1958. Why does a retired speech, drama, debate, English teacher like math? It's a long story, so I'll skip some details. When I entered U. of Illinois under the GI Bill in 1949, I had this notion I wanted to be a math teacher. When I tried to register for the first math class, I was told I didn't have enough HS credits, and needed to take a couple at a local HS. Here I was, 22, a veteran, with wife and child and too proud to sit in a HS classroom. Besides which, I needed some free time to earn extra money whenever I could. Later, my rhetoric prof suggested I might like to teach speech and I took his advice. Professor Jimmy McCrimmon was a Scot with the most beautiful brogue I ever heard. His lectures were like concerts! Finally, I like basic math because I was taught the right way. I had to memorize the multiplication table, for one thing. I can do a lot of things "in my head," and it's fun to try. (Tell you what...it's a great help in ESTIMATING. Do they teach estimating any more?) Charlie now publishes two newsletters, but that's for later, and he is a retired math teacher. How did a math person get into editing/publishing? Our paths crisscrossed, it seems. Oh, yes, almost forgot. I was taught to play the game of pinochle at a young age, and you have to be able to add up your "meld" in that game. Dad taught me to add "up the column first, then down the column to confirm" long before any teacher brought it up.