Kathleen Real Carter

1962 - 2019

Kathleen Real Carter

Dothan, AL - Kathleen Real Carter passed away suddenly in Dothan, Alabama on Monday, January 21, 2019.

A memorial and celebration of life for Kathleen Real Carter, 56, will be held at Dorothy B. Oven Park in Tallahassee, Florida on Sunday, February 3, 2019 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST.

Kathleen was born on July 9, 1962 at the Naval Hospital in Millington, Tennessee to Dr. Jack Real and Linda Berry Real. She grew up in Dothan and graduated from Houston Academy in 1980 as a star tennis player and Homecoming Queen. She received a full athletic scholarship to attend Birmingham Southern College where she met her husband of 34 years, Joel Steven Carter. At college, she was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority, the Little Sister and Sweetheart of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, Homecoming Queen, and the recipient of the Outstanding Senior Art Student award. In May 1984, she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts, and on December 29, she married Steve Carter in Dothan, Alabama.

Kathleen and Steve moved to Tallahassee in 1988 where Kathleen attended Florida State University and received a Master's Degree in Art Education in 1991. They relocated to Tampa, Florida for three years before returning to Tallahassee in 1994 to plant their roots and raise their only son, James Steven Carter.

Her paintings and encaustics have been featured in galleries and museums across the South including Birmingham Museum of Art, Kennedy Douglass Art Center, Tampa Museum of Art, Claude Pepper Gallery at FSU, Museum of Florida History, Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, Tallahassee Artport Gallery, AT&T Building in Jacksonville, and so many others.

In Tallahassee, Kathleen built a career as an artist and art teacher. She dedicated her life to working with children and fostering their creativity. She taught elementary and high school students at Maclay School and undergraduate students at Flagler College. She founded Starry Night Studio where she mentored children and young artists and gave them a platform to feature their artwork. In 2013, her students' artwork was featured in the National Christmas Tree Ceremony in Washington D.C. She invested herself in Tallahassee's art community as a volunteer art teacher at the Florida Traumatic Brain Injury Association and at Boys Town North Florida where she helped establish ART Town. Since 2014, she was the Chair of the Children's Festival for the annual Lemoyne Chain of Parks Art Festival. Kathleen embodied a devoted mentor, a passionate teacher, and a visionary artist.

Kathleen was preceded in death her mother, Linda Real. She is survived by her husband, Steve Carter; son, James Carter; father, Jack Real; sister, Francis Howard and her husband Buddy; sister Greer Tirrell and her husband John; brother Doug Real and his wife Sonya; mother-in-law, Pat Carter; sister-in-law, Sherry Synder and her husband Robert; sister-in-law Marisa Parker and her husband Brett; and many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her honor to Boys Town North Florida.

Robert Byrd of Sunset Memorial Park Funeral Home (334) 983-6604 www.SunsetMemorialPark.com