The Rev. I. Gregg Carter

The Rev. I. Gregg Carter, parish minister, amateur organist and music lover, and expert calligrapher, died on 20 April 2014 at the age of 85.

Ira Gregg Carter was born 28 February 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of Joseph and Lena (Gregory) Carter, but soon moved with his parents to the small town of Amory, Mississippi, where he grew up and attended a Bible-centered church with his mother. After high school he began study at Southwestern College, a small historically Presbyterian school in Memphis.

Once there, he later recalled, “my childhood faith lasted only a few weeks.” As a quintessential seeker and “constant questioner,” he found his way to the Unitarian church in Memphis, where the Rev. Richard B. Gibbs articulated religious views that “made sense” and provided a “pivotal link” in Mr. Carter’s eventual pursuit of professional ministry. After earning a B.S. in psychology and sociology in 1949 from Southwestern (renamed Rhodes College in 1984), he was a social worker for the Tennessee Department of Welfare and then entered active duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Honorably discharged with the rank of corporal, he enrolled at Meadville Lombard Theological School and received his B.D. in 1956.

Gregg Carter was ordained to the Unitarian ministry by the Westminster Congregational Society (Unitarian) in Providence (now in East Greenwich), where he continued serving as minister until 1963. While there, parishioners introduced him to Jane Parrott, an M.A. student in English at the University of Rhode Island in nearby Kingston. They were married in 1961. After a call to the Unitarian Church of Staten Island (1963-68) and a one-year yoked ministry with the Unitarian Church of Sharon and the First Universalist Church of Foxborough (1968-69), he went on to parish settlements at the Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson (1969-74), the UU Church of Greater Lynn (1974-77), and the First Congregational Parish in Kingston (1977-88)—all in Massachusetts.
He concluded his parish career with seven years of interim ministries at the UU Congregation of Fort Wayne, Indiana (1989-91), the Oak Ridge (Tennessee) UU Church (1991-92), the UU Church (now the Unity Temple UU Congregation) in Oak Park, Illinois (1992-93), and the First Universalist Church of Yarmouth, Maine (1994-95). In retirement, he lived in Somerset, Mass, on Cape Cod.

The Rev. Mr. Carter served the UUA and his ministerial colleagues in several capacities. He was a member of the Southern New England Unitarian Council (1957-58), advisor to the Narragansett Federation of Liberal Religious Youth (1957-58), secretary of the Channing Conference of Unitarian Churches (1957-58). president and scribe of the Channing-Murray Unitarian Ministers’ Association (1957-61), board member of the New England Unitarian Ministers’ Association (1957-61), program chair of the Greenfield Study Group of UU Ministers (1962-64), member of the Social Concerns Committee of the Metro NY UU Churches (1966-67), program chair and secretary-treasurer of the Central Massachusetts chapter of the UUMA (1971-72), and treasurer of the Unitarian Sunday School Society (1976-77).

Mr. Carter was an amateur organist and had a lifelong appreciation for music. He was a talented student of calligraphy and taught several classes on the subject. Additionally, he was fascinated with the history of religion, and was an avid reader. His wife Jane recalls him as “one of the kindest people who ever walked the earth; . . . everyone who knew him felt that way about him.” She remembers him fondly as a “wonderful father” and a gifted minister who was “excellent at extemporaneous prayers and preaching.”

Besides his wife, Gregg Carter is survived by son Scott Barton Carter, daughter Catherine E. Carter, son-in-law Kevin Seward, sister-in law Marcia Akerholm, and many cousins in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Virginia.

In gratitude to the Cape Cod program that has provided ongoing support for Gregg and Jane’s son Scott, who is challenged by autism and epilepsy, the family encourages donations in Gregg Carter’s name and memory to CapeAbilities, 895 Mary Dunn Road, Hyannis, Massachusetts 02601.

Notes of condolence may be sent in care of Jane Carter, 103 Sanford Ave, Somerset, Massachusetts 02726-5209.