Robert Clay Carter's Obituary
Our dad, Bob, as he was known to most, led a life marked with success and triumph as well as disappointment and loss. In his early teen years, he faced making his own way toward adulthood. He lived in Ft. Worth and the surrounding areas until his high school graduation from Amon Carter Riverside High School in 1942. Soon, he had the opportunity to take a course offered by the federal government in a vocational setting in welding that would ensure him a job for his immediate future before going into the Navy at the tender age of 18. He was somewhat disappointed when he was told the welding classes were all full, but there was an opening in a radio repair class. He signed up for the class and waited for the next open class in welding. He was so fascinated with the subject matter and the enthusiasm generated by his instructor, he decided to make this his field of endeavor. This is what Daddy would tell us was a ‘decision point’ in a person’s life. “When those moments come,” he would say, “The choices one makes have far-reaching consequences”. Truer words were never spoken. In the Navy he continued his interest in radio and after his discharge, sought to attend Texas Christian University, but was told he needed a full year of geometry in order to enter the fall semester as a freshman. He took Geometry I and Geometry II simultaneously (received an “A” in both classes) and entered TCU in the fall of 1946. Mr. Adair his instructor in Geometry I, saw him and his friend Ralph at a high school football game. Ralph told him he overheard Mr. Adair tell his wife ‘that’s the boy I told you about taking both Geometry I and II at the same time”…. Another of those ‘decision points’ occurred when he discovered in college, the right professor makes all the difference. What had been a boring and tedious subject, math had become his new love. He was in his element! He double majored in math and physics. He graduated in August of 1949. Daddy was staying at a rooming house in Lancaster, California while working on an engineering project. There he met our mother, June Morris. They married on September 15th, 1951. Charlene was born September 23rd, 1953 while he and June were both working at the US Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. and living in Maryland. David was born on March 31, 1957, at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital in Irving, Texas and Dale on November 16th, 1960 at Richardson, Texas. He began working at Collins Radio in March of 1956 and continued until retirement in early 1987. He went back to work for Collins (now Rockwell-Collins) as a consultant and stayed for several years. A lot of life went by in the following years. We kids grew up, went to school, went into the Navy, married, had our own children, divorced and remarried, had more children, moved around, and sometimes made a mess of our lives. Daddy was always there to love us through it and lend us his shoulder (and sometimes his wallet) to help us through. Our mother June passed away in the first few days of January 1982. Daddy experienced personal difficulty in the days ahead. With his wife gone, and us children grown, he sometimes became depressed and withdrawn. He sought the help of healthcare professionals and found it of some help. Genuine help came when he met Margie Wood and later married her on April 5th, 1986. His old self re-surfaced and he was re-energized. He had purpose again and his newfound happiness was self evident. He and Margie grew very close in the next 23 years. She eventually retired from AT&T in Human Resources and was able to spend even more time enjoying family life with Daddy. They bought and lived in three new homes, took trips, and enjoyed grand and great-grandchildren. Margie “the seamstress” sewed for kids and grandkids alike. Life was grand. And of course Daddy continued his scientific experiments conducted in his homemade laboratory. Ever the scientist, his now huge library of books contained works by and about Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, various mathematicians both ancient and modern. His most intense interest though was in the works, experiments and person of Nikola Tesla. It seemed he couldn’t get enough. As someone who appreciated the finer things, Daddy had the best of taste in everything: furnishings, art, movies, food, music and pretty much everything in between. He loved making music on his piano; Bach, the Beatles, Doris Day, the Rat Pack and so on were his favorites. He was a fan of the original Star Trek series; The Twilight Zone and loved reading science fiction and fantasy. Growing up he was frequently accused of doing nothing but reading. Gadgets and gizmos were his fascination. If it had a button or a magnet, a switch, an illusion, or made a racket, he was hooked. “How” and “why” were his favorite questions and he was always ready to discover how something worked, even if it meant disassembly with no hope of reconstruction. Sometimes referred to as a “mad scientist” he was ready to show any remotely interested party his latest contraption or experiment in his lab. This was a very “common phenomenon,” as he would so often remark. Profoundly fascinated with space and the passage of time (in any dimension) he was also known for his numerous and elaborate timepieces, and had over fifty calendars and clocks at last count! Daddy had his own brand of humor, sometimes corny, sometimes silly, and most of the time left us with our sides aching with laughter. There were many times we made his sides ache with laughter as well. Finding humor in our misfortunes, a family tradition, often we shared our foul-ups and faux pas, forever fixing them in our memories. Daddy was good at that. In the last years of his life he became interested in health issues. He bought books on health, longevity, nutrition, pharmacology, vitamins, supplements, and so on. His heart attack in December 1996 was bad enough to send him to the hospital, but not bad enough to keep him down. He suffered a couple of more episodes with his heart and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. On August 18th, 2006, Daddy suffered a massive brain injury due to a stroke. Margie found him on the bathroom floor early one morning and rushed him to a Garland hospital where he stayed for two weeks. We thought we would lose him there, but he pulled through somehow. Afterward he was transferred to a rehab hospital. He was there nearly a month. We soon realized however he was not the same man who entered the hospital. He suffered no muscle paralysis as is so common with stroke, but instead sustained heavy mental capacity and memory loss. This was a blow no one was ready for or expected. Over the period of the next three years, there were health setbacks and small victories, but the victories were few. Often he didn’t know us his children, and would sometimes wonder where and who he was. We were quick to assure him he was in his own home with his loved ones near. We showed him family photos of him and others, talked of times gone by and even re-enacted past family memories to help him remember. However at the last he responded less and less. He slipped into a coma on Friday evening the 16th of October never to regain consciousness. He did have the opportunity to experience a spiritual renewal and we have every hope that he was ready to depart this life. We believe we shall see him again on that great day. Even though her strength and resolution were tested, Margie loved and cared for our invalid father from the stroke until the time of his passing in their home in Garland, Texas. For this we owe her a debt of gratitude that is not possible to repay. She did so because of her love for him, and resisted any suggestion to move him away from home, which was where he desired to be. She wouldn’t hear of it. We believe the phrase is “for better or for worse,” and Margie fulfilled both. We love you Margie.
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