Glenmore and Sarah Carter - A Life of Service

Last week I shared part one of Sarah Elizabeth Woods Carter's memories regarding living along the Dog River from 1909 through the early 1920s.  

The second part of her narrative begins when the Woods family moved to Texas in 1922.

Her words are italicized.  My comments appear in regular print.

The day came when we were told we were moving to Texas in 1922.  I still feel the heartache when, as the cars were loaded and we were on our way, we passed a calf of mine in a neighbor's pasture.  I choked up and hoped that Mary, my calf, didn't see me.   I didn't want her to think I gave her away.   

As to the results of our move to Jefferson, Texas, to make the story short, five of us married Texans.   The stay in Texas was not too long and all came back to Georgia.

At seventeen, I went back to Jefferson to attend school and took several classes under a young teacher, Glenmore Carter.  After two years we were married at what is now Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and we continued our education together. 

Andrews University is a Seventh Day Adventist sponsored college dating back to 1874.  The school's motto, which the Carters seemed to take to heart is "Seek knowledge.  Affirm faith. Change the world."

We spent thirty-eight years in the ministry in India and in many of the large cities in the United States.  With us, part of the time, were two sons, Lee Edwin and Glenn Thomas.

Of course, serving as a missionary in various parts of the world can be very dangerous and during the 1930s and 40s it was no different.   The Southwestern Union Record, a Seventh Day Adventist newsletter, dated September 4, 1935 mentions the Carters.   The article states, "A letter just received by Mr. and Mrs. L.N. Carter from their son Glenmore brings the news that because of the Suez situation being so serious word was received from Washington for them not to sail from New York via Europe.  It also advised that the missionaries in Addis Ababa have been ordered to leave.   This without a doubt bespeaks of the seriousness of things in the east Mediterranean....Glenmore Carter and family will now sail from Seattle, Washington on September 13, 1935."

The Suez situation mentioned above is often referred to as the Abyssinia Crisis involving Italy and Ethiopia.   You can read more about it here.

The narrative continues:

There came a time when the sons reached college age and their bills were more than our salaries, so I did special duty nursing and we always had the bills paid at the end of the school year.  One dollar per hour was the pay for the special duty nursing in those days.

An issue of The Record, a Seventh Day Adventist newsletter from 1956 indicates Glenmore Carter was the pastor of Houston Central Church and the announcement was being made regarding the purchase of property for a new church and school facility.   The church - with a membership of 600 - had outgrown its building.

By 1963, the Carters were in Little Rock, Arkansas where Glenmore had become a regular on local television appearing on various religious and community shows as a representative of the Seventh Day Adventist faith.  

The narrative continues:  

After retirement I thought it was my turn to suggest where we would live.  That ended up with our going to the county where the old Dog River flowed.  But retirement was not for us.  

In the 1960s along with 42 other Adventist the Carters bought the old church used by the Methodist in the center of Douglasville - at the corner of Price and Church Streets (where the city parking lot stands today) - with the handsome stained-glass memorial windows and organized a new Adventist church there.  The building is seen below......

In March, 1964 they named the new church Lou Vansant Memorial Seventh Day Adventist Church in honor of Sarah's grandmother who is listed as the first practicing Seventh Day Adventist in Douglas County.   The property was sold to the City of Douglasville in 1970 and the church moved to the Bright Star property where it's located today.   

The narrative continues:

We saw the need for medical and hospital work in that county on the edge of booming Atlanta.  We saw the plans for the big new freeway, Interstate 20, to be built right by us, so we invested in 500 acres of land and this paid off.  

We used the gain to put up a lovely nursing home, the Georgian Villa, on a beautiful lake.  Then we built a school, and last of all a 400 bed ultra modern hospital, Atlanta West Hospital, just twelve miles west of Atlanta, right on I-20.  It was a dream come true when I had the privilege of planning a modern hospital with every nook and corner designed for the best in nursing care. 

In 1973, projections to build the 11-story cylindrical nursing tower with an attached rectangular medical building stood at 17 million dollars, however, later editions of the Seventh Day Adventist newsletter advised the final cost was closer to 27 million dollars.  Below is  a picture of Glenmore and Sarah Carter along with Malcom P. Cole who served as the first hospital administrator as they review blueprints of the building and another picture of the building under construction from the newsletter. 

The hospital was funded through bonds which were advertised far and wide.   Here is an advertisement dated March 19, 1973 from The Evening Independent.  I found other such ads in other newspapers across the country.

Mrs. Carter advises.....

Construction was very successful and the new medical plant opened on time, but the administration we had chosen failed us and quickly wasted over a million dollars in opening reserve.   

This link here takes you to an article concerning the dedication and opening of the hospital with several pictures..

 In her book concerning Douglas County history Fannie Mae Davis states, "The advanced architectural design was matched by a far-sighted approach to equipment inside the hospital.....Unfortunately, low utilization of the facility resulted in financial problems."

Mrs. Davis continues, "....The hospital operated efficiently, but lack of operating funds forced the founders deep in debt and finally, the hospital faced bankruptcy.  In 1976, a class action suit was filed against Atlanta West, it's corporation and officers, the bond trustee bank, the bonding company [First Dayton Corporation], and others.  The case hung in court for six years, but finally came to trial in federal court in Ohio in December, 1981.  The Carters relinquished legal responsibility three and a half months before the bonds went into default, but never hesitated to enter the court and acting as their own attorney, defended every charge.  After a lengthy trial, the federal court jury gave a clear verdict on every point, favoring the Carters and the hospital corporation.  Their defense was complete and decisive and it was said to have helped save millions for the bond holders, who ultimately received their full original investment and considerable interest."

You can read more about the legal issues involved with the case here.

Mrs. Carter continues with her narrative:

We contacted Hospital Corporation of America and they wound up purchasing the fine plant and making it one of the best operated hospitals in America.

My research indicates they purchased the hospital for 22 million dollars.  An article from the Douglas County Sentinel noted "real stability happened in 1980 when the Hospital Corporation of America bought the hospital and changed its name to Parkway Regional."  

The Georgian Villa Nursing Home was also part of the purchase and its name was changed to Garden Terrace.  One important first for the original Georgia Villa was it was the first facility of its kind in the nation to receive a Medicare check for nursing home care.  In 2008, the nursing home changed its name once again to Douglasville Nursing and Rehabilitation.  

Parkway Regional eventually met its demise due to the swing of a wrecking ball in 2004.  Bob Smith has furnished the next two pictures showing the facility during its demolition in September, 2004.   I'm told the recyclable steel was sold and shipped to China for their building boom  Today, a Home Depot sits on the spot where the hospital once served as a unique landmark along the expressway.

I'll be writing more about the hospital later.

The Carters finally took that retirement.....

There comes a day when retirement becomes a reality.  We thought it would be wonderful to be up in the mountains of Tennessee near the Smokies and figured that was the answer.  It was beautiful and relaxing, looking out over the hills and mountains.  But one thing we did not take into consideration, the legs that had been faithful for over seventy years now did not desire to carry up the hills.  On icy winter days we did not always go in the right direction.  So, in 1981, we moved back to Texas, level and plenty of heat to care for arthritis.  After six years back home in the college town of Keene, where Glenmore grew up, we are doing grand.  At present (1986) we do traveling for our hobby and thoroughly enjoy taking life a bit easier.  

....and that's the end of the narrative.

Glenmore passed away in 1996 while Sarah reached the age of 98 before passing away in 2007.  

A Douglas County Sentinel article regarding Mrs. Carter's death and impact on Douglas County can be found here.

Life Along the Dog River During the Early 1900s

A few weeks ago a friend handed me a history of the Vansant family compiled by Sarah Elizabeth Woods Carter.

I finally got around to looking at it.

Mrs. Carter was a member of the Douglas County Genealogy Society, and did a great job researching her family and presenting the information in her book.  Her introduction really grabbed my attention mainly because it was well written as well as informative.

After thinking about it for a bit I decided Mrs. Carter's narrative is very important to the Douglas County story not only because of the contributions she and her husband, Gilmore Carter, made to the region during the 1960s to the mid 1980s, but because the narrative paints a portrait regarding how many citizens of Douglas County lived their lives during the early days of the 20th century - from 1900 to the early 1920s and how those same people handled all of the changes during the last half of the century.

Think of it as "Little House on the Prairie" meets the turbulent 1970s.

Mrs. Carter's time here in the county could be considered as a great case study regarding how Douglas County changed from an extreme agricultural and rural community to an Atlanta suburb.  

I've divided Mrs. Carter's narrative into two parts....part two will publish next week.  

Her words are italicized.  My comments appear in regular print.

It will not be a long story telling you about the life I have lived.  These seventy-seven years have flown by so quickly.  On October 28, 1909 I arrived on Clifton Boulevard in Atlanta, Georgia.  When in my fourth year a little baby brother, John David, arrived.  In my fifth year my parents decided the six of us needed to be on a farm, two older brothers, Curtis and Ottis,  and two older sisters, Fannie Lou and Orella.  The half dozen needed more exercise than city life could give.  

Mrs. Carter published the book in 1986.  The residence she speaks of on Clifton Boulevard is actually Clifton Road that cuts through Atlanta from Ponce de Leon  over to Briarcliff.  Per Mrs. Carter's obituary the property was located along Clifton where we find Emory University today.   Eventually both of Mrs. Carter's sons would earn degrees on the land where their mother was born.  

This picture is the Edgar Woods family and was taken when they lived on Clifton Road.  Mrs. Carter is the youngest child.  

The narrative continues:  

In a covered wagon I rode with my father on a cold day in November the forty miles to our country home on Dog River in Douglas County.  I kept warm underneath a quilt with a lighted lantern.  The only thrill I had for the day was crossing over the bridge on Dog River.  We were going to a farm on which my father lived as a youth.  The house was there - trees had grown up through the porch.   But even though after dark, my father picked up limbs from the trees that had fallen and in no time the huge fireplace was crackling with fire and we were perfectly warm.  The straw ticks for mattresses and springs were filled with pine straw.  No need for more, we slept through it all.  

Mrs. Carter's father was Edgar Woods who married Carrie Vansant in 1874.  Carrie's father was Young Vansant who is well known in the Douglas County history community because he donated the original 40 acres that would become the city of Douglasville.   

The following picture was taken at the time Edgar and Carrie married.

Turning the Woods family property back into a working farm took hard work by all of the family members at a time when folks didn't have the machines we have today.  

Trees had to be cut and hand piled to burn in clearing the land for planting crops the spring following.  I was there and came in at night with the rest, black from carrying burnt brush into piles ready for burning.  I was greeted by the rolling steam from the kettle of hot water and into the tin tub I went and was soon like new.  Soon we were proud of the four hundred acre farm.  A dairy was started.  Orella, my sister two years older was my pal.  We made a game out of all we did and raced on every task.

We were given the calves to care for.  A barn on a rented place near our home was given us, a place to call our own in which to care for our calves.  We fed them and cared for the cleaning of the barn.  If a grown person came around it scared our calves.  

At the ages of ten and eight we milked cows, ran the big old barrel churn, cleaned the "De Laval" cream separator, and walked two miles to school, getting there on time and back home for chores again.  My first administrative task was at the age of eight managing my dozen calves.  They followed me and minded me like my pet dog.

Pictured below is a cream separator like Mrs. Carter refers to above.  Basically it was a centrifugal device that separated milk into cream and skimmed milk.  Most of the time the skimmed milk would be used for the family and some used to feed farm animals.  The cream would be used for churning butter and the excess was sold.

We never thought of keeping busy as work.  It was real life.  And never a day passed but we found time for a game or foot race, or hurried to the piano to see which one made it first.  That mother of ours taught us music.  And not only that, but at the age of six I had finished every word in the old blue back speller.

The blue back speller dates back to 1783 and was created by Noah Webster - author, political writer, and textbook pioneer.   He's the Webster in Webster's Dictionary.  Over five generations of Americans used the book to learn how to spell and read in the days when standardization wasn't a bad word.  

How often I have thanked heaven for that mother of mine.  The Vansant blood that ran through her veins never failed to circulate.  She managed the seven of us.  (I had a  little baby sister, Claudie Mae, arrived on the "ole Dog River" place).   The lessons I learned on mother's knee saved me many a woe in life.  I can never forget the day, sitting on her lap at five years old and the admonition she gave me.  She said, "There is a God in heaven and he expects me to guide you till you get old enough to know right from wrong.  No matter where you are He sees you and will help you.  Every day learn to do something new, and do something you know you should do but don't like to do, and do it with a smile.  I have a Bible text for everything I teach you."

Yes, I understand that some parents don't use the Bible to teach their child right from wrong, and I understand it's every parent's choice, but more and more I see parents who choose to be a friend to their child instead of a parent.  I see parents who treat their child more as an accessory than a responsibility.   Mrs. Carter's statement, "The lessons I learned on my mother's knee saved me many a woe in life"..........

Very true.

It was a regular custom at our house to get up at 3 a.m.   One morning it came to my mind as I came bouncing down the stairs at 3 a.m. I thought, I'll bet she doesn't have a text to prove we have to get up at 3 a.m each morning.   Yes, I found her already in the kitchen, up and making those good biscuits that would be piping hot for breakfast.  I said, "I bet you haven't got a text to prove we have to get up at 3 a.m.."   I can see her yet as she turned her head from me to laugh to herself.   But instantly she came back with the answer - "a little more sleep, a little more slumber, the way of the sluggard."   I went on to the barn to milk the cows with the rest of the family and never questioned her integrity again.

Three in the morning!!!  Okay.....I give.   That IS a little extreme.  

So in case you are wondering about Mrs. Carter's mother's response...."a little more sleep, a little more slumber, the way of the sluggard" ....you can find it in the Bible at Proverbs 24:33....meaning.....little procrastinations....any procrastination can ruin men's souls.

I do understand the point.   Procrastination is my own personal nemesis.

I caught up with Orella in school work.  In fact, we raced in everything we did.  Many tasks were given to us, chopping cotton, picking cotton, helping the men folk bailing hay, and any odd jobs were ours.  If I could ride the horse or mule to the house from the field, or sit on top of the load of hay as it was hauled in, was pay enough for the day.

I'm thinking about most of the children I know between the ages of nine and late teens and trying to visualize them chopping cotton, picking cotton, bailing hay, etc.  Broadening my thinking a little I don't know that many adults who could do this sort of work these days.

I'll be continuing Sarah Carter's narrative next week where she discusses her family's move to Texas and moving back to Douglasville years later where she made her mark by building a school, a nursing home, and a hospital and the challenges involved.