Charles Foster:  

My middle name is William, and I have been Bill Foster all my life to everyone except the U.S. Army. As an undergraduate at U. of Chattanooga I became a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity, and lived in the chapter house for much of my college career. My time at that location on that campus was filled with memories of great times and very special folks who changed my life for the better. After college I taught English and Geography at Hixson High School for a year. I married Anne Brandon (met in college), and we have a daughter (Melissa) and a son (Will). I earned a Master's at East Tennessee State University (English & Folklore)and a Ph.D.at University of Alabama (19th Century American & British Literature, Elizabethan & Jacobean Drama,and Linguistics). Taught at U. of Alabama for five years, then came to University of North Alabama, in Florence, where I retired on August 1,'07, as Professor of English and Linguistics and Director of The Center for English Language Learning after spending thirty-one years as Chair of the Department of English. Our daughter, Melissa, manages the Barnes and Noble Bookstore on campus, and our son Will is a former gymnastic coach. I have spent a great deal of my career studying linguistics and the English language, beginning as a field worker for the Dictionary of American Regional English and ending with my appointment as Associate Editor of the Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States Project. To ease the stress of graduate school back in the '60's, I took up the five-string banjo. I showed a gift for it, and became banjo player for a band called Sour Mash in Tuscaloosa. Later, we formed a family band, and for 20 years our family traveled professionally as a Bluegrass band: The Foster Family. We were selected Band of the year for five consecutive years at the Bluegrass Music Awards in Nashville. We retired the band in 1995, and now Anne and I work as a duo:The Fosters. The family's picture, one of our ...Expand for more