Meet Carter Linger

I first heard about my mother’s brother Carter and his untimely death from my mother. As I recall, whenever she spoke of Carter she talked about him having diabetes, being “rolly polly and fat” (I have her on a home video mentioning this in an offhand remark) and his death being caused by him falling off a rocking chair from a porch. I believe my mother also said he was drunk at the time of his fall.

At other points, unsubstantiated family tidbits here and there were put out in various stories, along the lines of he may have been arrested after a fight and died in jail because his insulin was not given to him.

Last summer, during a stretch of various more focused research, I was able to get his death certificate as a matter of public record. I’m finally getting back to some of my pieces here that have been in progress.

Carter Woods Linger is certified as having died in the Commonwealth of Virginia on July 27, 1955. Born September 4, 1907, he was forty-seven years old when he died.

The direct causes of death are partially legible…appearing to be “General P—itis” , something relating to “urinary bladder” and “falling from a porch 10 ft.” This fall is listed as accidental and happening at his home, six days prior to his death. As with the story of the blind man and the elephant, maybe all pieces are true.

Perhaps he was in a fight on his porch, perhaps even drunk; perhaps he fell 10 feet (oh, but my mother specifically always mentioned he was on a rocking chair, I even have the vague memory echo in my mind that he fell backwards off the porch); perhaps they took him to jail and then something else resulted relating to insulin…who knows. Likely someone yet living may know more, but it is not a matter of pressing importance to me, per se.

He is listed as a public school teacher on the death certificate, but he seems most known for his football coaching. And I can recall my mother mentioning that he was a football coach. I located an article online which mentions Coach Carter Linger during the 1930’s at Ravenswood High School in Parkersburg, WV. I also located the following photos of Carter Woods Linger and indeed, he’s quite a heavyweight man and it should be noted, he is sixteen years older than my mother. My mother was actually a very small woman. Not that size matters per se when we are speaking of violence between a man and a woman. Men tend to be violent with one another, and women, too, are known to get physical with one another.

But there is a special indecency about men who are physically violent toward women, for any reason.

I used to enjoy going to football games in high school, but mostly for the band activities and general fun of being with friends in a crowd. When I lived in Alabama I learned early on I needed to pick a team–Auburn or the Crimson Tide. I took up the fun of team identification (with no real meaning to me) by noticing that Forrest Gump likely played for the Crimson Tide. In the movie, I had learned enough about Coach Bear Bryant and the houndstooth pattern to take note of a similar (but not identical, likely for copyright reasons!) pattern on something in a Forrest Gump scene. I thought to myself, “If the Roll Tide was good enough for Forrest Gump, it’s good enough for me!”

But on a serious note, after leaving those high school days I don’t have much interest in football (or sports in general) but for the occasional social fun of things. I certainly do enjoy being in a packed stadium at a Phillies game, but it’s been so long and honestly, fifty percent of my attention involves people watching, taking in the excitement vibes and fun of it all (apart from the game itself) and fifty percent of my attention is trying to follow the game.

I’ve heard more than once that baseball is the thinking man’s game and football is the game of brutes. I know just enough about each of these games to agree; baseball surely is a more complex and potentially deeply metaphoric sport in some aspects. I recall a conversation once with someone who had played football and they were describing the interpersonal intimidation that goes on between the linebackers on each team as they are face to face, awaiting the start of the next play.

Over the years I have read of serious injuries, lifelong conditions, paralysis and death resulting from college and professional football. While a good fall game in small doses might be appealing here and there (if I ever again found the time or reason to watch or attend any sporting event at all), I think to myself why would anyone want to risk so much personal harm to themselves or others for a game like that.

Surely any sport comes with risks, but football does seem to attract, train and promote brutality and violence as sport. (I’m even less of a fan of boxing, and wrestling…in fact, I think it is terrible waste of one’s time, energies and more).

I suppose at the time of this writing, this is about all I know of Carter Woods Linger–apart from notations my mother made about him in her 1946 diary.

The Murmurmontis appears to be some sort of publication from West Virginia Wesleyan College.

What is important in my writings here is to note that Carter Woods Linger had a college degree.

“They were divorced in 1947 without children. Carter received his B.S. degree at W. Va. Wesleyan in 1931 where he played on the football team. he completed his Master’s degree at W. Va. University and was a teacher teaching mathematics and coaching football. He died as a result of a fall from a porch in Arlington, Virginia. He was W. Va. checker champion in the 1930’s and 1940’s.”¹