Charlie B. Tinkham Papers

Charles B. Tinkham was born May 11, 1929 in Hammond, Indiana.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from the University of Chicago at age 19 and later gained a second undergraduate degree in botany from the University of Wisconsin.  Tinkham became a professor of creative writing at Purdue University Calumet and also taught classes in art, literature, music, and philosophy during his forty-five year career.  His publications included over 2,000 poems, and three verse collections, Latin Sun (1988), A Year Among the Wildflowers of Purdue University Calumet (1994), and A Year Among the Trees of Purdue University Calumet (1995).  Tinkham was the faculty advisor for Skylark, Purdue University Calumet’s literary publication, for twenty-five years.  Tinkham achieved all this in spite of suffering from cerebral palsy.  He died on January 24, 2003 in Gary, Indiana.  His wife Maria Lourdes Tinkham and his several stepchildren and step-grandchildren still carry the memory of Charlie Tinkham. Biography source: Tinkham, Charles B. Charles B. Tinkham: Selected Poems. Edited by Gordon Stamper, Jr. Purdue University Calumet, Department of English: Hammond, 2006.

Note written by Gordon Stamper, Jr