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FEATURE FOR
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2003
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Smitty Carter - Lessons of Life |
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Herman "Smitty" Carter called West Tennessee home long
before it became his legal residence. Born July 9, 1944,
he was six months old when his family moved to
Ypsilanti, Michigan where his father, Herman, Sr.,
worked for Greyhound bus lines. The elder Carter had
previously driven military buses at the Camp Tyson
barrage balloon Army base before driving the city bus in
Nashville, where Smitty was born.
Smitty would remain in Michigan for several years after
achieving adulthood, but it was during childhood summers
with his grandparents in Dresden and Paris that he put
down roots that pulled him steadily homeward to
Tennessee.
The divorce of Smitty's parents changed the course of
his life when - formerly an only child after his 14
month old sister, Carol, died in 1948 - his mother's new
marriage would eventually net four half-brothers while
in his father's home two brothers would be added.
When the school Smitty attended, just outside of
Detroit, let out for the summer, his mother Virginia and
step-father Thomas Buckley would vacation in Tennessee
for a couple of weeks, leaving Smitty and his two
younger brothers with Virginia's parents Henry and
Lillie McClure in Paris or with Thomas' parents "Mama
and Papa" Buckley (Walton and Ada) in Dresden. At
summer's end, the boys' uncle and aunt would come out
for their vacation and, two weeks later, take the
children home to Michigan.
In the meantime, Smitty says, looking back into his
memory with a searching smile, "Me and the boys, we did
whatever we could get away with... that was a lot of
years ago."
Laughing, he pulls memories into the present, sharing,
"I distinctly remember my grandfather taking us to
church every Sunday whether we wanted to go or not. And
it seems like there was always a carnival or circus
coming to town. Other than that we made up our own games
- kick the can and hide and seek - things kids today
don't know anything about."
In youthful enterprise, the boys fashioned a makeshift
scooter by nailing the broken sections of a roller skate
to a two-by-four onto which they then hammered upright
an orange crate with pieces of wood on the top of each
side for handlebars.
Smitty's entrepreneurial spirit continued as he entered
high school and learned he had a knack for selling.
"I sold everything from soup to nuts," he says,
beginning with flower seeds and eventually Kirby vacuum
cleaners during his high school years.
He left school after the tenth grade though he attained
his general equivalency diploma after marrying and went
on to community college where he studied political
science.
"I've been going to school off and on all my life," he
says.
In Michigan, he worked for General Motors and Ford for
several years each and was a part time deputy as well as
working on the ambulance service. The country boy
yearned to come home to Tennessee, but when he brought
his Detroit-raised wife home, her own yearning was for
her family back home. Though they returned to Michigan,
in time the marriage ended in divorce.
"I came home in 1971," Smitty says, "and I've been here
ever since."
Selling Kirby vacuum cleaners once more became Smitty's
mainstay, and his skills at the venture earned him the
position of Sales Manager for West Tennessee.
After a successful sale to Charles Nunnery (who has
since moved to Houston) in the spring of 1972, following
his successful sales formula, Smitty asked whether
Charles might know someone else who would be interested
in owning a Kirby vacuum cleaner. He was jazzed when
Charles asked him later if he would be able to make a
presentation to six families at once.
"I jumped at that," smiles Smitty, who knew "if he was
any kind of salesman at all" he would make a sale. Among
the throng of friends and relatives at the meeting
(where he did make two sales) was Smitty's future wife
Shirley and her five-year-old daughter Angela.
Smitty had assumed the evening of the presentation that
she was married with her husband working nights, but a
few days later, he says, "something Charles said made me
realize she was divorced."
Charles balked at giving Shirley's unlisted phone number
to Smitty, but called himself and asked if she was
interested in talking with him. "One thing led to
another and here we are 30-odd years later," Smitty
says. For Christmas that year, he gave Shirley a Kirby.
The two dated for five years before tying the knot in
marriage.
"We'd both been burnt once and with a child involved we
didn't want to make a mistake." Smitty says reasonably.
A year after the marriage, he showed his devotion to
Angie by adopting her as his own.
Eventually, Smitty joined cousins Billy and Henry Carter
in their service station venture, Carter's Car Care,
located in Paris, in order to escape the odd hours that
dictated the life of a vacuum cleaner salesman which, he
declares, "are not real conducive to married life."
He spent eight years at the service station - greeting
customers, pumping gas, changing oil and performing
minor mechanical work. "Billy was the main mechanic; he
was one of the best in this part of the country," he
boasts.
He then placed his application at the Republic Builders
Products Company in McKenzie, where affable and wise
former FBI agent Les Haugen was personnel manager. He
advised Smitty the only opening was for a janitor.
"He didn't want to hire me; he said I was
overqualified," shares Smitty. "I told him, 'I realize
that and I appreciate you realizing that but I have got
to have a paycheck. I won't promise you I'll stay 30
years as a janitor but I'll be the best janitor you've
got 'til a better job comes along in the company or on
the street.'"
His sincerity clinched the position, but the Friday
before he was to report for midnight duty Mr. Haugen
called to ask if he would consider working in the paint
department, a job that paid a nickel or dime more per
hour in addition to offering better hours.
Thus in 1981 Smitty embarked on his career with Republic
Builders, in six months earning a promotion to a
salaried position programming tapes for the computer
assisted punch press.
"At the same time I also worked very closely with
maintenance foreman Joe Stewart to set up a preventive
maintenance program to keep the machines from going
down," he says. The daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly
maintenance schedule was never completely implemented
during Smitty's tenure as changes in ownership of the
business took place.
He progressed to production inventory control - making
sure everybody had what they needed to do their jobs -
and then to quality control when in 1991 a series of
strokes combined to redefine his life.
"I always thought you had to be old or have high blood
pressure, or both, to have a stroke," says Smitty, who
was just 46 when the first stroke in February landed him
in McKenzie's hospital for a week. Another stroke
followed about a month later resulting in another week
of hospitalization in Jackson. The attacks were
attributed to vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood
vessels. At Jackson, Smitty was prescribed a round of
hydrocortisone treatment, but when the temporary regimen
was completed, a third, more severe stroke followed in
June.
"The first strokes knocked me down for a week or ten
days, but I fairly well bounced back both times," says
Smitty, who now keeps the symptoms of vasculitis at bay
by taking prednisone on a continuing basis. He believes
had the initial therapy continued the third devastating
stroke could have been avoided.
But June 1, 1991 found Smitty at the Baptist Hospital in
Memphis where he remained until August 8, initially
unable to walk, talk or feed himself.
"I couldn't do anything," he declares with stubborn
tenacity. "Over time I got to where I might not be doing
it right but I do it."
The John Hopkins Vasculitis Center online at
vasculitis.med.jhu.edu states "vasculitis" is "a general
term for a group of diseases that involve inflammation
in blood vessels. While vascular manifestation differs
from patient to patient depending upon the vessels
affected, all cases of the disease are systemic -
affecting many or all organ systems - making patients
with vasculitis feel sick with "fever, weight loss,
fatigue, rapid pulse, and diffuse aches and pains that
are difficult to pinpoint" among their symptoms.
Looking back, Smitty can see how his vague symptoms
prevented him from understanding the seriousness of his
ailment. "I thought I was fighting the flu," he says, as
if betrayed by nature, "That's probably why I waited so
long to see a doctor."
Since his medical retirement from Republic Builders,
Smitty gets around with the help of a four-pronged
walking cane and sometimes a wheelchair. The energy he
had formerly devoted to work was now spent in service to
others. Already a member of the Lions Club since 1984,
he also became involved with the American Heart
Association, the Cancer Society and United Way.
"I restarted the American Heart Association in Carroll
County; it had not been real active in several years,"
he says.
He became involved with the McKenzie United Neighbors in
1992 when former Lions Club member Joel Washburn asked
if he would investigate progress on attempts to convert
the volunteer human services project to a legal
non-profit organization. United Way had approved funding
of $10,000 if the organization was legally sanctioned.
"Somebody had started the process but didn't complete
it," says Smitty, who obtained permission from State
officials to refile the paperwork under the $350 that
had been previously paid.
The final step was to register the organization at the
Courthouse in Huntingdon, an act that cost only $5.00.
Thus legal, the organization received from United Way
the following week the promised check for $10,000.
"There've been lots of changes since then," muses Smitty,
explaining United Neighbors originated in 1967,
operating from the homes of volunteers for some 25
years. Now located in the old City Hall facility across
the street from the municipal building on Cedar Street,
the organization recently expanded its services to
benefit the entire county. (For more information contact
McKenzie United Neighbors at 731-352-0547.)
Smitty remains active in the Lions Club, a group he
joined for two reasons: camaraderie and service.
"One of the reasons I joined was a lot of the guys were
friends of mine," he elaborates, "and the main thing was
for helping people with vision problems."
Smitty was acutely aware of the importance of vision
care since one of his brothers had been diabetic since
he was 11 years old. Now, three of his brothers are
afflicted with diabetes, a systemic disease known for
its debilitative effects on vision.
For those who miss Smitty's smiling face as he greets
old timers and newcomers to McKenzie Lions Club meetings
at Hig's Restaurant in his role as secretary every
Monday at noon (interested individuals, both male and
female, are encouraged to attend), another opportunity
presents itself at the 641 Music Barn in Camden on
Friday evenings and The Barn in Trezevant on Saturdays,
where Smitty greets guest and takes payment at the door.
Both events are held from 7:30 'til 11:00 p.m.
"My brother-in-law Donald asked me to start that in
1992," he says. "He felt I needed that - it got me out
of the house - and he was right, it helped me a whole
lot."
Smitty married into the musical family that provides
music for both non-drinking establishments where Texas
two-stepping and other couple dances keep patrons fit
and happy.
Donald Higdon, married to Shirley's sister Gail, plays
the drums in the band in which Shirley's brother Larry
Townes plays steel guitar and Donald's brother Terry
plays bass.
"One that's not in the family but has been around so
long he feels like family is Jamie Christian, who plays
lead guitar," smiles Smitty. Jack Lovelady of Paris
plays the keyboard and, in Camden, Aubrey Taylor of
Clarksburg plays fiddle.
Smitty started working at the Camden location two years
ago when Terry bought the 641 Music Barn. Mr. Jim Bryant
is the proprietor of The Barn in Trezevant.
While both his wife and daughter are talented singers,
Smitty grins as he admits, "I sing in the shower and the
water shuts off."
Smitty's other favorite pastime is being grandfather to
Angie and Brent Bruce's two boys, Tyler, age 12, and
Colby, 7.
Smitty and Shirley make their home in McKenzie where
their future plans are more of the same, service and
fun, while Smitty's ready smile is a constant tribute to
the will and triumph of the human spirit. |
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2003
Feature
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2002
Feature
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2001
Feature
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Phone (731) 352-3323 or
Fax (731) 352-3322
washburn@mckenziebanner.com
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