LENOIR COUNTY, NC - Obituary - Charlie Garthright, 1930. ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dee Bennett May 1999 ========================================================================== From "The Kinston Daily Free Press", Kinston, N.C. - Lenoir County, January 27, 1930 THEY'LL BE MISSING CHARLIE GARTHRIGHT IN FANS' QUARTERS Members of the hot stove league here are disconsolate over the pass of Charlie Garthright. He will have no successor as Kinston's chief baseball fan. He is dead, and there is nobody to fill his shoes. His funeral was held here today. He talked, dreamed, lived baseball. His interest in the pastime was infectous. Between seasons he kept interest of the fans alive. In the places where they congregated he harangued them. He knew the sport like a book. He knew by heart the complete records of hundreds of players in the big leagues and minors. He settled a thousand disputes, held the stakes a thousand times when bets were made, was sought out for information a thousand times. Obese, 37, good-natured and fonder of a hearty laugh than a meal, he was as popular with the fans as any diamond star. He was popular with players and umpires, also, and probably knew more about the game than the average small time arbiter. Major league stars and bushers knew him. Many had advice from him, solicited or unsolicited, during the years that he followed the game. Fans in other Virginia and North Carolina cities knew him well. Kinston has had numerous managers in organized baseball. Garthright was the first to meet them all at the train, the staunchest friend of all in their dilemmas, an optimist. There were financial crises and attendance crises and crises of other kinds, and above them all Charlie Garthright's deep voice boomed him optimism. There were times when he put business ahead of baseball, and then he worked in a barber shop. While other barbers discussed the weather and the community scandal with their patrons, he talked baseball - and nothing else. He was a good barber, an excellent barber. He thought the operation that preceded his death might prove fatal but he did not fear it. He laughed with a surgeon as he was rolled into the operating room. When it was over the doc. thought he would get well, but there was a reaction and it was fatal. Thousands will remember him as long as they live. Their tribute to his memory will be, "He was a good sport.".