[5] Van Riper State Park is named after his father, who convinced a local iron company to donate the land to the public.
He subsequently attended the Northern State Normal School, and then the University of Michigan where he won honors for creative writing and graduated with a Master of Arts in English.
After graduation, he taught high school English in Saline, Michigan, developing many techniques for dealing with his stuttering while teaching.
Although he was regarded as a proficient and innovative teacher, the stress of his stuttering and his fear of speaking in many situations, made him unhappy at teaching.
During his subsequent career he became internationally known as a pioneer in the development of the science of speech pathology;[1] he worked with thousands of stutterers, did research,[3] and published a large number of books, articles and films on the subject.
[nb 1] Under the pseudonym "Cully Gage", Charles also wrote The Northwoods Reader, a series of books based on life in Champion.
[13] Charles was the subject of the Western Michigan University's informal talk for emeriti and friends on November 14, 2007, which discussed his professional history and writings about his childhood.