IRVINGTON—Ernest W. “Nick” Carter, 98, of Irvington, formerly of Elkins, West Virginia, passed away peacefully on December 28, 2021, at Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 24, 1923, he grew up in Baltimore and Silver Spring, Maryland. Nick was the oldest child of the late Ernest W. and Emma Chambers Carter. He was predeceased by his wife, Barbara S. Carter, of 73 years; his sister, Anne Carter Parks; and his grandson, Andrew Carter Sloan.
Nick is survived by his daughters, Denise Carter-O’Gorman (Stephen) of Cleveland, Ohio, Melanie Carter-Maguire (Frank) of Irvington and Lauren Carter Campbell (Kevin) of Brattleboro, Vermont; son, Ernest W. (Tad) Carter III of New York, New York; and four grandchildren, Alison Weber Maguire of West Chester, Pennsylvania, Katharine Carter O’Gorman of Cleveland, Ian O’Keefe Campbell of San Diego, California, and Colin Spencer Campbell of Brattleboro.
Nick attended Blair High School in Silver Spring, where he lettered in three sports—basketball, soccer and baseball. After graduation in 1941, he attended Colgate University and transferred to the University Maryland for his sophomore year where he was in ROTC. Finding it difficult to concentrate on his studies in college during World War II, he enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Force in 1943.
After basic training, radio operator training and aerial gunnery school, in August of 1944 he left the States for Italy where he joined the 15th Air Force as a radio operator on a B-24 Liberator. He completed missions over Yugoslavia, Hungary and Germany. He and his crew were forced to bail out over northern Italy after having bombed a marshaling yard in Munich, Germany. He was captured by the Germans and became a Prisoner of War in September 1944, eight months before VE Day.
Upon returning home after the war, Nick married his best friend and high school sweetheart and they relocated to Hamilton, New York, so Nick could finish his studies and graduate from Colgate University with a bachelor’s in economics. During that time, Nick and Barbara had their first child, Denise.
After graduation, Nick joined the S.S. Kresge Company and they returned to the Maryland and Virginia area where their family grew with three more children. In 1964, Nick became the assistant bookstore manager at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and in 1969 Nick and Barbara moved to Elkins, where he managed the bookstore for Davis and Elkins College.
In 1975, he became the city clerk of Elkins until his retirement in 1988. In 2009, Nick and Barbara moved to Irvington, so Nick could play more golf and they could be close to one of their daughters.
He attended Grace Episcopal Church in Elkins where he was on the vestry and was the church treasurer for several years. Nick and Barbara were members of Grace Episcopal Church in Kilmarnock while living in the Northern Neck. Nick was a Rotarian, an AARP tax assister at the Elkins Senior Center, board member at the Appalachian Community Health Center, president of the West Virginia Association of Municipal Clerks and Recorders and a member of the Elks Club.
Nick was an avid horseshoe pitcher, golfer and bridge player. One of his proudest golfing moments was getting an eagle on the number one hole at Hills Quarters Golf Course!
The family is deeply grateful to the outstanding staff at RWC for their loving, care, devotion and compassion though Nick’s last years.
A service and burial will be held at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to RWC Foundation, 132 Lancaster Drive, Irvington, VA 22480; or Grace Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 1059, Kilmarnock, VA 22482.
Curry Funeral Home LLC of Kilmarnock handled the arrangements.
