Robert Ira Carter of Houston, Texas died Monday, November 6, 2023. Robert was the second child born in the Emmaus Community of Cleveland County, Arkansas on July 18, 1935 to Alvin M. and Nettie Raye Stevenson Carter.
His appreciation for education, music, and family history was fostered in the childhood home he shared with his parents (both teachers) and his first lifelong best friends-his three siblings.
Robert was the Valedictorian of the New Edinburg, Arkansas class of 1953. He graduated in three years magna cum laude on May 21, 1956 from A &M College (now the University of Arkansas at Monticello) with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
He then earned his master’s degree in religious education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas on May 15, 1959.
Following seminary, he worked as minister of music and education in Baptist churches, in Benham, Victoria, and Houston, Texas. He sang and played the piano, the organ, and the harp. He was a member of South Main Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.
After 11 years in the ministry, he went to work for an oilfield products division of Dresser Industries, which was later purchased by Halliburton. During his career in the oil industry, he lived and worked for two years in Singapore and 3 years in Tehran, Iran. He also worked in several countries around the globe, including Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Canada. He retired as Controller of the Oil Fields Products Division of Halliburton, Eastern Hemisphere.
Robert was an avid genealogist. He added nearly 900 written memorials of the Carter, Moseley, and Parnell families and their many friends and related families in Cleveland and Bradley Counties in Arkansas, the Stevenson and Smith families of Dallas County, Arkansas.
In addition to his family research contributions, he was an engaging storyteller and a dynamic part of any family gathering.
He was a beloved member of his family and will be greatly missed by his sister Audrey (Billy) Hairston, of Warren, and brother Dale (Jimmie) Carter of Little Rock. He was also an uncle to four nephews and two nieces: Roger (Robin) Hairston, John (Story) Hairston, Greg Carter, Allyson (Roy) Peterson, Missy Carter and Scott Carter. He had 4 great nieces, 4 great nephews, 3 great-great nephews, and 2 great-great nieces.
He was preceded in death by his brother, Bruce, and sister-in-law Carole Carter.
In appreciation for his parents and his alma mater, he helped establish the Alvin and Raye Carter Education Scholarship at UAM, and endowed fund which awards scholarships for students pursuing a career in education.
Funeral service was held Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Frazer’s Funeral Home. Burial was in Emmaus Cemetery by Frazer’s.
