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2018 SESSION

18102165D
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 202
Offered February 27, 2018
Celebrating the life of the Reverend Frederick Risdon Miles Carter.
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Patron-- Mason
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WHEREAS, the Reverend Frederick Risdon Miles Carter, a funeral director, pastor, and community activist who dedicated his life to serving others and strengthening the Newport News community, died on May 1, 2017; and

WHEREAS, a native of Gloucester County, Frederick Carter earned a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and graduated second in his class at the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Carter returned to the Commonwealth to run his family’s funeral home in the 1960s and later opened Carter Funeral Home, Denbigh Chapel, the modern facility that still serves the community to this day; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Carter treated families with grace and dignity in their time of need, and he made sure that everyone received a proper burial, regardless of their family’s ability to pay; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Carter also served the community as the first African American deputy sheriff in the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office and as the pastor of Shepherdsville Baptist Church; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Carter was a member of the Christopher Newport Board of Visitors and a former chair of both the Newport News Planning Commission and the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers; he was appointed to the Peninsula Airport Commission, having gained a love of flying after he received pilot lessons for his 50th birthday; and

WHEREAS, a highly admired community leader, Frederick Carter was a cofounder of the Thursday Morning Breakfast Group, a group of local residents that met weekly to discuss local, national, and global events and established a scholarship fund for high school students; and

WHEREAS, Frederick Carter will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by his beloved wife of 53 years, Elizabeth; children, Dianne and James, and their families; and numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of the Reverend Frederick Risdon Miles Carter, a pillar of the Newport News community; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of the Reverend Frederick Risdon Miles Carter as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for his memory.