Shirley Carter

OZARK… Mrs. Shirley S. Carter, a resident of Ozark, passed away peacefully Saturday morning, April 1, 2023, in Greenville, South Carolina after living many years with dementia. She was 83.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. Saturday, April 15, 2023 at Southside Baptist Church in Ozark with Reverend Kenneth Hale and Reverend Raymond Moncreif officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends from 1:00 until 2:00 P.M. Saturday at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Gardens at Eastside, Employee Fund, 275 Commonwealth Drive, Greenville, S.C. 29605. The family is very thankful to the staff of The Gardens at Eastside for the care and love they showed Shirley over the last four years.

Ms. Shirley Carter was the daughter of the late Travis and Corine Sims. Shirley was a graduate of Carroll High School. She also graduated from Troy State Teachers College and earned postgraduate degrees from Troy State University, and Auburn University.   She was an elementary school teacher and media specialist at Lisenby Elementary School and Wallace Community College. Shirley’s love for the people around her was evident every day.  As she taught children, sang and played piano in church, and traveled the globe, she touched the lives of everyone she met.  On Sundays, many families became grateful recipients of home-cooked meals as Shirley cooked for them and shared the love that was so abundant in her heart.  These families quickly became more than friends and even after relocating to other parts of the world, would remain in close contact.  Shirley cherished those families and considered them her own.

Ms. Shirley Carter was married to her husband Gary for 39 years until his death in 1999. She is also preceded in death by her sister, Susie Tuck.

She is survived by her daughters Andria Hancock (Terry), Greenville, SC, Elisabeth Rigsby (Scott), Tallahassee, FL and Cynthia Carter, DeFuniak Springs, FL. Five grandchildren, Teri Lee Sands (Dwight), Travis Hancock (Susanna), Amanda Haskin (Shawn), Amy Meyer (Nick) and Brian Rigsby; fourteen great grandchildren Timothy, Aydelyn, Carter, Evangelyn, Samuel, Ella, Henry, Cora, Violet, Amelia, Florence, Bethany, Brice and Abby.

Serving as pallbearers will be Nick Meyer, Shawn Haskin, Travis Hancock, Dwight Sands, Steve Carter, and Charles Ward, honorary pallbearer will be Brian Rigsby.