Carl Aaron Graves

Carl Aaron Graves passed away on Friday, April 14, 2023 in Houston, Texas at the age of 62 from cardiac complications following surgery and a 12-year battle with ALS. Carl was the cherished husband of Ann Prendergast Graves and the beloved father of Claire Morgan Graves and Aaron Parker Graves. He was the son of the late Martha Jean Kotlick Graves and Carl William Graves. He is survived by siblings Vicki Graves Ferguson (Chuck), Linda Graves Salansky (Tim), and Carleen Graves Dunn (Bob) as well as by many loving cousins, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews and life-long and dear friends.

A graduate of Lutheran High School, Carl attended the University of New Orleans studying Business Administration. Carl was a licensed Master Electrician in the states of Texas and Louisiana and was employed as an electrician by the Audubon Institute Aquarium of the Americas where he kept the lights on at Woldenburg Park and the marine life thriving. After a successful career Carl retired to raise a family, residing in Metairie, Louisiana and Houston, Texas.

Carl was a Sea Scout in his youth and enjoyed sailing trips, catamaran sailing and jet skiing Among friends and family, he was known as CA (abbreviation of Carl Aaron to differentiate from his father, Carl William), but which he advised friends stood for “Carl Also”, an early indication of his wit. He was keenly observant and exceedingly clever, delivering truth subtly in the form of “laugh out loud” humor and was incredibly adaptable, as comfortable at a Fantasy Football Draft with his buddies, as he was as the only “Dad” member of Claire and Parker’s “Mommy and Me” Play Groups.

Although he forwent his career to manage the home front, he volunteered at his children’s schools, on Houston Livestock and Rodeo Committees, and returned to New Orleans in 2006 to work again as an electrician on post-Katrina restoration.

Carl loved family, friends who he considered family, and friend/family gatherings of all types. He was a keeper of human connections maintaining life-long friendships across distances and time. Carl loved a good party and any opportunity to “dress up” whether in a simple kilt and sporran, or in all out drag – notable among his then trending choices were Tammy Faye Baker, Tina Turner, Lady Gaga and more recently as Helga, the Bier Garden Girl. Carl’s costume choices, considered “routine” within his New Orleans friend group, were less expected in his Texas circles, but accepted and imitated, nonetheless. After Carl’s Houston Halloween debut as Lady Gaga in a paper mâché T-Bone Steak dress, he was joined the following year by a bearded Serena Williams and a similarly unshaven “Snooky”. Zeitgeisty costuming was one of his many superpowers.

A service will be held at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Metairie, Louisiana on Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 12 noon., followed by a “fun”-eral reception at the residence of a friend at 4005 Ridgway Drive. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the ALS Association.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.earthmanbellaire.com for the Graves family.