Ralph Campbell Carter

Ralph Campbell Carter of Chipley, Fla., passed away on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007, at Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan. He was 75.

Funeral services will be Saturday at Brown Funeral Home, Brickyard Road Chapel in Chipley at 10 a.m. with the Revs. David Darrow, Bert Swearingen and LeAnn Gunter Johns officiating. Interment will follow in Glenwood Cemetery. The visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. at the home on 1318 Gainer Road of Chipley on Friday.

The family is accepting flowers or those wishing to may make donations to the First Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 237, Chipley, FL 32428.

Mr. Carter was born on June 25, 1932, in Geneva to Ralph Clarence and Annie Elizabeth (Cronin) Carter. He had lived in Chipley since he was 5, coming from Geneva. He was of the Presbyterian faith and a member of the First
Presbyterian Church in Chipley. He received the Danforth Youth award for leadership and served as Washington County 4-H Club president. President of the Florida Presbyterian Youth Council, he received the senior class leadership award and represented Washington County at the 4-H convention in Chicago. He was a graduate of the Chipley High School 1950 class. Mr. Carter was awarded the Florida Bankers Scholarship to the University of Florida and he received the Governor's Award in the field of soil conservation. He served three terms as president of Washington County Farm Bureau and was the director of Washington Holmes Cattlemen's Association.

Mr. Carter was chairman of district one welfare board, served as an officer in Chipley First Presbyterian Church since he was 19, elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1960 and served three consecutive terms. He successfully shepherded through a bill to establish the Washington Holmes Vocational Technical School and a bill to designate and set up Falling Waters State Park. He was the last representative to serve only Washington County and operated Carter Cattle Farm.

He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Gunter Carter, of Chipley; one son, Ralph Campbell Carter Jr. of Rochester, N.Y., and friend, Van Van Zanten; two daughters, Angela Marie Carter Sprunger and husband, Mark, of Lancaster, Pa., Nancy Inez Carter Cooke and husband, Tom, of Atlanta; two sisters, Sarah Carter Oaks and husband, Frank, of Cantonment, Fla., and Sue Carter Jefferson of Chipley; five grandchildren, Jason, Ben, David and Daniel Sprunger and Erica Cooke; seven stepgrandchildren and nine greatstepgrandchildren; two stepsons, William H. Gunter Jr. and wife, Gail, of Chipley and Charles Wesley Gunter and Donna of Chipley; one stepdaughter, Andi Patterson and husband, Joe, of Chipley.

Brown Funeral Home in Chipley, Fla., (850) 638-4010, is in charge of arrangements.