Evelyn Suzanne Carter

Evelyn Suzanne Carter, 78, passed away on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. She was born on January 7, 1946, in Gatesville, Texas, to parents, Rosa Lee and Hall Wood Evans. She was preceded in death by her parents, Hall Wood, and Rosa Lee Evans. Evelyn is survived by husband, Mario Carter; daughter, Kimberly Painter (David); grandson, Nathaniel Painter; sisters, Darla Baker, Candice Engels, and Melissa Evans Crissman; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Suzanne was the second of four daughters in the Evans family. She had one older sister, Darla and two younger sisters, Candis and Melissa. They were raised in Alamo Heights in San Antonio. Suzanne attended Cambridge Elementary school then went on to Garner Middle School. In 1964, she graduated from Lee High School. She started some classes at college, but the timing was not right for her to continue. She married Wilbur Troy Lancaster on March 19, 1965. They moved to Farmers Branch, Texas right outside of Dallas for Wilbur’s work. On May 18. 1970 they had a daughter, Kimberly Charlene. Suzanne attended secretarial college where she excelled at all her courses. She obtained employment as a secretary and because of her skills, unwavering work ethic, and ability to work easily with others, she quickly moved up to be an Executive Secretary. After they divorced in 1978, Suzanne moved with her daughter to Houston where she continued to work as an Executive Secretary.

Anyone who knew Suzanne can attest to her classic and beautiful sense of style and fashion as well as her amazing ability to dress so well on a shoestring budget. She turned that love of clothing into a business and opened La Maison, a clothing store, in Houston. She located it in the shopping center of the business district where she had worked and carried fashions for women of all positions that worked in the surrounding office buildings. Sadly, the recession that hit Texas in the early 1980’s meant tremendous layoffs in those office buildings that she relied on for business and in 1984, she filed bankruptcy, closed her business, sold most of her possessions and moved her and her daughter back to San Antonio to live with her parents. Despite losing everything financially in Houston, Suzanne was a fighter and within three months, had secured a job as an executive secretary and moved her and her daughter out of her parents’ house and into a lovely home.

Suzanne worked hard as a single parent to raise her daughter. She was respected and loved by all that knew her. In November of 1984, she met the love of her life, Mario D Carter. They were married on October 18, 1986. They loved and supported each other unconditionally and together they built a wonderful life appreciating good food, art, music, and family. In addition, they spoiled as many felines as possible along the way.

She returned to college in 1990 and earned a BA degree in Sociology from Our Lady of the Lake University. She felt the calling to help others overcome tragedy and traumatic events in their lives and went on to earn a MA degree in Counseling and Psychology from St. Mary’s University in 1995. Both degrees were conferred on her with honors. She went to work at Alpha Home while working on her licensing. Once she obtained her LPC she went to work at United Way. One of her first major tasks was to work with employees of Kelly Airforce Base in San Antonio to support them in any way they needed to cope with and prepare for the eventual closure of the base in 2001. Later, while working at United Way, she was proud to be a part of the team that created the 2-1-1 system in Texas which helps individuals and families to access help with food shortages, shelter, employment, legal help, addiction recovery, and many other vital resources.

She later directed her attention to the homeless problem in San Antonio and took a position at Center for Health Services. They, along with many other support service organizations in San Antonio were planning and building Haven of Hope, a 37-acre campus where homeless people can go for shelter as well as any care that they need to support and facilitate their move towards independence. Their goal is to provide any training, service, counseling, or other assistance needed to allow residents to return to society and live in their own home. She contributed a tremendous amount to the design, layout, and services that she felt should be offered to make the program successful in its mission to help homeless people transition back into society no matter what that process looked like.

In 2010, she traveled to Northern Virginia to meet the new love of her life, her grandson, Nathaniel. She helped Kim through the process of a new baby that refused to sleep at night and allowed Kim to get some sleep while getting to know her grandson.

As her faith in God grew and evolved, she fell in love with the Catholic faith and all that it represents. In September of 2011, she made the decision to commit to the Catholic faith and began the process to convert. On January 21, 2012, she and Mario remarried in the Catholic church at Our Lady of Atonement in San Antonio. Their dedication to their faith was part of their daily lives and they attended mass every week at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles Catholic Church.

During this same time, she was called to return to the part of her profession she loved most, counseling people one on one. In 2011, she became the Administrative Director for Catholic Counseling of San Antonio where she was able do just that. Having spent years recovering from her own traumas, her true passion in life was to help others through theirs. No topic of trauma intimidated her. She wanted to help children and adults with anything and everything that she could. She had a true gift of connecting with people, especially children. She learned how they were willing to communicate and then guided them to open up to her through art, play therapy, and games.

She treasured her time at Catholic Counseling, but her dream was to open an office of her own and she did so in July of 2015. Many clients from her previous positions followed her to her new office because of her incredible gift. She served many clients until she decided to retire in 2020 to spend more time at home with her husband Mario and their beloved cats, Fina and Sebastian.

Suzanne was a voracious reader and an avid watcher of British television as well as true crime. She enjoyed learning and understanding how and why people felt and acted as they did. Over the years that She and Mario loved to browse the bookstores and find new topics to learn about. She will be greatly missed by all that knew her.

VISITATIONTUESDAY, MAY 28, 20246:00 P.M.PORTER LORING MORTUARY WEST

ROSARYTUESDAY, MAY 28, 20247:00 P.M.PORTER LORING MORTUARY WEST

MASSWEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 202411:30 A.M.OUR LADY OF ATONEMENT CATHOLIC CHURCH

BURIAL TO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWRESURRECTION CEMETERY

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.