Remembering The Man Behind the Sign

In the coming and going of everyday life, I pass a sign at the corner of Madison Hwy and Prison Farm Road in Valdosta, Georgia. 

The sign reflects a resolution executed by the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners.
The commissioners gathered with local and state officials on August 12, 2015, to unveil the brand new sign. The Lowndes County Law Enforcement Complex is now re-named for the late G. Robert Carter, Jr., a man of many wonders.

G. Robert Carter, Jr.   1924 - 2011,
A Man of Many Wonders.
Photo by Paige Dukes

G. Robert held many titles and roles. The Veteran of WWII was a farmer, a Mason, and a Shriner.  A devout United Methodist, with deep Primitive Baptist roots, he was also a Gideon and a Kiwanis Club member. A graduate of Naylor High School, Georgia Military College, and the FBI National Academy, he served on the state board of the Department of Corrections under Governors Joe Frank Harris and Zell Miller.

He was a son, brother, cousin, husband, father, uncle, owner of fox hounds, grandfather, great-grand father and a friend. He was my uncle and my neighbor for fifty years. He responded to many names. Yet, more often than not, people simply called him Sheriff.

In 1941, a young G. Robert and his younger brother, John Rufus, drove a team of mules from Naylor to Old Cyattville. They arrived at the 114 acre farm where their  parents, Bob and Nancy Walker Carter, sister Julia, and baby brother Sam awaited. And made their homestead.

At the homestead in 1948, left to right: brother John Rufus and wife Rose, sister Julia,
Katie Ruth and G. Robert.
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G. Robert married his high school sweetheart, Katie Ruth Sego in 1944, and answered a draft summons the same year. The Army sent him to the Philippine Islands and Yokohama, Japan. After the war, he returned home to Katie Ruth. She gave him three daughters: Lucy Jayne, Nancy Ann, and Martha June.

A Christmas spread at the homestead in 1961.
G. Robert back on right with left to right: sister Julia, cousin Cleo, parents Nancy and Bob, uncle Johnny,
and young nephews: JR, Mike and Sam.  
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G. Robert's three lovely daughters: Nancy, Jayne & June in 1991.
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One year a very poor tobacco crop made for a necessary trip into town. He asked Chief Wilbur Perkerson of the Valdosta Police Department if they were “looking for any hands.”

They were. Especially since the hands had military police experience.  G. Robert Carter served with the Valdosta Police Department from 1952 to 1975, rising to the rank of Assistant Chief.  

I learned much of this when he first ran and was elected Sheriff in 1975.  As a wide-eyed eighth grader, it amazed me that my uncle actually wanted to run for public office. In my tender years, I rarely heard him talk except when calling the cows.

Yet he always acknowledged my presence. With a gentle sweep of his hand to my face, he’d mumble,  “Hey there, Junior. Got your nose,” and I always wondered if he thought I was a boy.

My aunt used to say that, when she first married my uncle, he was so shy of crowds that she had to fix his plate at any gathering with dinner on the ground.

G. Robert on the homestead with his
first grand baby, Gina, in 1968.
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Somehow, with unclear wonderment of the family, G. Robert found a penchant for public speaking, crowds, and politics. We found him at the front of most any dinner line where he often asked the blessing. He then fixed his own plate and brought scraps home for the cats and dog.

G. Robert with his beloved fox hound.
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His bid for sheriff made for a new experience. As a family unit, we prayed, passed out campaign cards and listened to radio forums featuring the candidates running for public office.  And, once the polls closed on Election Day, we joined the masses to count votes at Mathis Auditorium.

G. Robert had a keen memory that served him well all the days of his life. During his seventeen years as Sheriff of Lowndes County, he drove an unmarked car. Amid the sounds of his department’s dispatchers on one radio and WJEM on the other, he waved at whomever he passed on the highway. He repeated their names and offered a tidbit of the family’s history to whomever was riding with him. This trait was so unique. I wondered if he did this even when driving by himself.

Because he seldom missed a funeral, many held the long standing joke that funeral homes had G. Robert on their payroll. Those closest to him, however, knew that his attention to funerals meant much more than good politics.  In the early 1980's, I worked in the Sheriff’s Office in the Old Courthouse. I never saw him display open anger until the department failed to show up for a proper funeral escort. He told us the deceased’s family had been let down. He had no chance to fix it.

He understood the depth of grief’s gaping hole and sought to fill it with a bit of  dignity. While he was the oldest, he survived his parents and siblings by many years. His baby brother died as a result of the Korean Conflict. His sister and remaining brother succumbed to the conflict called cancer.

My uncle in the Sheriff's Office located in the annex of the Old Courthouse.
Photo by Paige Dukes
***

G. Robert sought re-election in 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988.  Each race was opposed, but he won.  In 1992, however, he lost his re-election bid to Ashley Paulk.

He emptied his office in the Old Courthouse and returned home to Katie Ruth. They enjoyed  lunch at home while watching  The Young and the Restless, and their Saturday evenings at the Mt. Zion Music Hall and visiting family, but he did not stay away from public service.

G. Robert & Katie Ruth on their 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration
1994 at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.
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Left to Right:Son in Law, Mel, June, Katie Ruth, Jayne, Nancy and Son in Law, Rodney with G. Robert (center)
2003. 
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At the turn of the century, G. Robert Carter made the bid for District 3 of the Lowndes County Board of Commission.  He served from 2001 through 2010.

G. Robert's chuckle had a way of bringing wisdom and, more often than not, laughter to many occasions. Even awkward moments. His practicality and humor could bring clear perspective to an otherwise perplexing issue. This trait served him well and those he served even better.  

By and by, he and Ashley Paulk served the county well side by side on the Commission Board.  Ashley told me on more than one occasion that G. Robert’s dry wit brought quick laughter at the board meetings, especially since they both were called Sheriff.

“When anybody walks through that door smiling, they want me,” Ashley said that my uncle would joke.  “If they’re mad, they want you.” 

Sharing a bit of humor,
Commissioner G. Robert Carter and Judge H. Arthur McLane.
Old Courthouse 2009
Photo by Paige Dukes
***

Katie Ruth died in 2009 after a long, debilitating illness. Like many of his generation, G. Robert bore the deep sorrow, while remaining steadfast in his faith and love for family as well as community service.

At a family supper on New Year’s Day 2011, my uncle sat at my table. With laughter and reflection we spoke about the blessings of the past. We took turns around the table sharing what we hoped for in the brand new year.  Uncle Robert told us the New Year would bring a new experience because, for the first time in his adult life, he didn’t have some kind of job to report to and at his age, he wasn’t going to plan too far in advance. 

Way back in 1941, my uncle and my daddy, John Rufus, drove a team of mules from Naylor to a new home in Old Clyattville. My uncle died at that same home on February 12, 2011. His devoted daughters and sons-in-law were all present. He taught them well.

Sometime before he passed away, he decided the old smoke house on the homestead should be torn down. Yet, he remarked that the old fixture made him think of many things.

The smokehouse that made him think of many things.
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I understand what he meant. The sign unveiled on August 12, 2015, makes me think of  many things, too. I think of all the wonders of the man behind the sign. 

And, it makes me smile.   

The Sign
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                                                                                *****
My similar article entitled, The Man Behind the Sign, first appeared in the 2018 Winter Issue of My Georgia Hometown Magazine,a publication owned and operated by Vickie & Stanley Harsey of Alapaha, Georgia.  This post is placed in memory of my Uncle Robert. He would have turned 95 years old July 8, 2019.