Thelma Lorene Carter

  Thelma Lorene Carter, age 99 of Temple, went to be with the Lord on Monday, November 13, 2017.  Funeral services will be held Monday, November 20th, at 11:00 AM at Scanio-Harper Funeral Home with Rodney Tedford officiating.  Burial will follow at Bellwood Memorial Park.  Visitation will be 10 AM prior to service. Mrs. Carter was born Thelma Lorene Russell on March 28, 1918 near Spencer in Van Buren County, Tennessee, to Thomas George Russell and Lou Ella Jones Russell. When she was two years old the family moved to the Stringtown community in Bell County, Texas, where her father worked as a farmer.  At Academy High School, from which she graduated in 1937, she competed in declamation and 4H, and won first prize for her canned vegetables at the East Bell County Exposition. After high school she moved to Temple, where she worked at McLellan’s Department Store and Scott & White Hospital, before marrying Samuel Elton Carter of Killeen/Temple.  Thelma loved her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, her church and her family.  A devoted parent, she served as a Cub Scout den mother and supported many of her sons’ school activities, especially Wildcat football.  With her husband, an executive at American Desk, she enjoyed hosting and attending business events and entertaining guests at their ranch in Coryell County.  In addition to her love for the Texas landscape, she was also fascinated by new places and cultures and enjoyed travelling internationally.  Blessed with a green thumb, she liked to spend time in the garden.  She always kept a lovely home and a well-stocked kitchen and took pride in cooking delicious meals for her large extended family, especially during the holidays.  Thelma was a faithful member of local Churches of Christ, attending Central, Avenue T (as a charter member), and Northside. Over the past 15 years, even as she adjusted to loss of sight and limited mobility, Thelma’s passion for other people and for life never diminished.  Strength, sociability and self-reliance were the hallmarks of her character.  She never met a stranger, and she remembered and cared about the details of others’ lives with a perception that was remarkable, especially when those details had spanned a century.  In addition to her active social life, her curiosity persisted through her later years.  When she could no longer read the printed page, the services of Texas State Library’s Talking Book Program enabled her to maintain a steady diet of non-fiction (while always keeping the Bible at the top of her reading list). Mrs. Carter resided at Cornerstone Gardens for the last six years.  During the last few months of her life she felt particularly blessed to enjoy the love, companionship and helpfulness of her younger brother Thomas Russell, also a resident. Thelma spent the final days of her life in the care of the excellent doctors, nurses, and staff of Baylor Scott & White Hospital, and her family extends particularly heartfelt gratitude to Shelly and the nursing team on Scott & White’s 6th Floor, North Tower, and to SW’s E.R., internal medicine, and hospice staff. Mrs. Carter was preceded in death by her husband Elton on October 25, 1992, and by her sisters Eula Mae Russell and Mary Elizabeth Morris.   She is survived by her brother Thomas Richard Russell of Little River – Academy, her son Samuel Russell Carter and daughter-in-law Deborah Howard Carter of Temple, her son David Elton Carter of Temple, her grandson Zechariah Russell Carter of Fort Worth and his wife Emily, and her granddaughter Stacy Carter Perry of Cedar Park, Texas. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Arms of Hope family care organization, 21300 State Highway 16 North, Medina, Texas 78055, at www.armsofhope.org; or Tipton Children’s Home, 1000 N. Broadway, Tipton, Oklahoma 73570, at www.tiptonchildrenshome.com.