John T. Carter, former executive director of the Fellowship of Baptist Educators (FBE) and Samford University faculty member for more than three decades, died March 2. He was 92.
Carter served as a United States Army paratrooper in World War II and was part of Operation Dragoon in August 1944. He was awarded five battle stars and a bronze arrowhead for his service.
Carter earned a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi State University, a master of science degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and a doctorate from the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill.
He served as coordinator of National Fellowship of Baptist Educators (now FBE) starting in 1988. The coordinator title was changed to executive director, which Carter served as until 2005. He helped coordinate FBE’s Christian Corresponders (now Universal Pen Pals) in 1991, a pen pal program among thousands of students grades 7 through 12 that started in the U.S. and China but has now expanded to several foreign countries. He also helped start Book-Link International, a project that still provides thousands of books to foreign university libraries where students study English. Carter later served as FBE executive director emeritus, FBE senior consultant and Universal Pen Pal Project emeritus.
Carter served on the faculty of the Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education at Samford University in Birmingham for 31 years until his retirement in 1987. He served as the dean of the School of Education from 1980 to 1986.
A longtime member of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham, Carter directed the Conversational English ESL program for many years and taught Sunday School classes until the age of 91.
Carter is survived by his wife of 67 years, Frances; two children; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
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