Gary Carter

Gary Richard Carter

December 4, 1944 — July 4, 2020

On a cold winter day in the small town of Nampa, Idaho, a legend began.  It was December 4, 1944, when Gary Richard Carter was born to Glen Walton Carter and Ethel Louise Egbert.  As the heavens rejoiced for the opportunity to sculpt this treasured soul, the adversary took note with the knowledge that one of God’s most generous, kind-hearted, and beloved sons had begun his mortal journey, and he wasn’t going to let it be easy.  Nevertheless, Gary’s life would prove that great opposition can be conquered through steadfast faith in Christ and finding a perfect brightness of hope. During his childhood, the challenges of his youth taught Gary wisdom and perseverance, and moulded his character.  As he grew in stature, there erupted a passion for adventure that enabled him to find great joy in life.

His greatest adventure began on August 14, 1967, when he married the beautiful and vivacious LuReta Irene Simpson in the Salt Lake City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Together they created a legacy that began on Independence Day, 1968, when their first son, Scott Simpson, was brought into the world with fireworks blazing. The legacy continued when just fifteen months later, Christine Louise was born.  Itching for adventure, Gary moved his young family to Alaska and invested in a couple of family gold mines just for fun.

After only a year or so in Alaska, Gary and LuReta decided to move back home to the balmy environs of Nampa, Idaho where Gary continued his career selling hunting and camping equipment, which served to further fuel Gary's love for the outdoors. To better enable his adventures in the wild, Gary purchased the infamous Willy’s Jeep Wagoneer, painted it orange, built a custom top rack that he welded to the roof, and installed a big front winch. Now he could go almost anywhere and went on many memorable hunting expeditions and four-wheeling excursions. The memories of these trips took form in the legendary stories about bear hunts, deer hunts and camping trips that are told by the family to this day.

Gary’s drive to undertake such expeditions was fueled in part by a desire to create memories with his growing family. While living in Idaho, they were joined by four more children – Lureta Corrine, Edward Lord Simpson, Gary Simpson, and Morris Simpson.  As the children came, Gary understood that he would need to make a change to provide for the ever growing needs of his family. So, Gary decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and joined the workforce of the Union Pacific Railroad.  In 1977 shortly after Morris was born, Gary accepted a transfer with Union Pacific and the family moved to Orem, Utah, where he hoped to find a good family environment to raise his children.  Two years after moving to Orem, Gary and LuReta’s fifth son and lucky seventh child, Joseph Simpson, was born completing the Carter family legacy.

While in Orem, Gary progressed in his newly chosen career and eventually became a locomotive engineer.  To further his career, Gary began commuting from Orem to Salt Lake City.  This long commute inspired another move to North Salt Lake City in 1984, which would be the family’s final move together.  Gary and LuReta finished raising their children in their North Salt Lake home and Gary retired from the railroad after 30 years of service.

During their years in North Salt Lake, the hill on which their home was built slowly shifted and severely damaged their home.  Sadly, it was eventually condemned and demolished along with other homes in the Springhill neighborhood.  Rather than seeing this as a defeat, Gary saw this as an opportunity to begin a new adventure with his sweetheart. With their children grown and living on their own, Gary and LuReta packed up everything and in 2010 settled into their golden years in the blissful retreat of Apple Valley. Here the desert of southern Utah called to him and his four-wheeling adventures continued as Gary took on the challenge of conquering the red rocks.  Now that he was retired, Gary had more time than his four-wheeling adventures could fill, so he decided to take up a new hobby - raising chickens! It was not a love for chickens that led to this new hobby but rather a love for his fellow man.  Gary wanted to serve his neighbors and being able to share eggs with them allowed him to spread some cheer.

Sharing his eggs is just one example of who Gary really was.  He was compassionate and charitable.  The love of his Savior was reflected in his quiet acts of service throughout his life and the generosity he developed toward others.  His testimony beamed bright in the way he jazzed up his favorite hymns when he played them on his organ.  Though he only played by ear, everyone enjoyed his enthusiasm and creativity.  He was dedicated and consistent in reading his scriptures and always hoped his family would find their own joy living the gospel.  He was a great example of how to truly enjoy life.

Certainly Gary’s hunting and four-wheeling adventures brought him joy, but his greatest joy was being able to experience these adventures with his family.  He was happiest when he could see the joy in his children’s and grandchildren’s faces while four-wheeling and when he could feel the adrenaline of teaching his sons and daughters to shoot a rifle.  He loved going on camping expeditions to search for places that would fulfill his cherished wife’s visions of lands seen in her dreams. He lived and died for his family. He raised seven children with his beloved wife of nearly 53 years, “Sweetee Reedee”, and deeply loved his 29 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.  It’s sweet to remember LuReta’s playful term of endearment “My Deer-heart”, which always evoked the teasing response of  “Yes, Moose-liver.”  Gary will be missed mighty “deerly.”

If you ask his children to describe their father, you will hear words like generous, charitable, kind-hearted, devoted, best-friend, determined, dedicated, steadfast, protective, funny, sociable, creative, imperfect, yet penitent and forgiving. Throughout his life, he conquered the opposition of the adversary through steadfast faith in Christ, which enabled him to transition to the spirit world in peace with a perfect brightness of hope.  If it was possible, his children would give him a memorable 21-gun salute with the guns he had collected through the years to honor this fun-loving soul.  Beloved and honored, he left this world and began his next great adventure under the blanket of booming fireworks celebrating his return home on July 4, 2020. This is the legend remembered.  This is Gary Richard Carter.

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