Ralph Campbell Carter

Ralph Campbell Carter CHIPLEY - Ralph Campbell Carter, 75, of Chipley, Florida, passed away Tuesday, September 4, 2007, at Southeast Medical Center, Dothan, Alabama. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. CDT Saturday, September 8, at Brown Funeral Home, Brickyard Road Chapel (850-638-4010), Chipley, Florida, with the Rev. David Darrow, the Rev. Bert Swearingen and the Rev. LeAnn Gunter Johns officiating. Interment will follow at Glenwood Cemetery with Brown Funeral Home directing. Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. today at the home at 1318 Gainer Road, Chipley, Florida. 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 June 25, 1932, in Geneva, Alabama, to Ralph Clarence and Annie Elizabeth Cronin Carter. He had lived in Chipley, Florida, since he was 5 years old, coming from Geneva, Ala. He was of the Presbyterian faith and a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Chipley, Florida. He received the Danforth Youth award for leadership; served as Washington County 4-H Club president and president of the Florida Presbyterian Youth Council; 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. He was awarded the Florida Bankers Scholarship to the University of Florida, received the Governor's Award in the Field of Soil Conservation; served three terms as president of Washington County Farm Bureau, director of Washington Holmes Cattlemen's Association, chairman of District One welfare board, served as an officer in Chipley First Presbyterian Church since he was 19 years old, elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1960 and served three consecutive terms. He successfully shephered 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, Florida; a son, Ralph Campbell Carter Jr. Rochester, New York, (and friend Van Van Zanten); two daughters, Angela Marie Carter Sprunger (and husband Mark) of Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Nancy Inez Carter Cooke (and husband Tom) of Atlanta, Georgia; two sisters, Sarah Carter Oaks (and husband Frank) of Cantonment, Florida, and Sue Carter Jefferson of Chipley, Florida; five grandchildren, Jason, Ben, David and Daniel Sprunger and Erica Cooke; seven stepgrandchildren and nine stepgreat-grandchildren; two stepsons, William H. Gunter Jr. (and wife Gail) of Chipley, Florida, and Charles Wesley Gunter (and Donna) of Chipley, Florida; one stepdaughter, Andi Patterson (and husband Joe) of Chipley, Florida.