NORWAY – T. Richard Carter, 90, of Bethel, died Friday, Oct. 7, at Stephens Memorial Hospital, following a mercifully short battle with cancer.

He was born in Bethel on Nov. 3, 1914, the son of Edward Augustus Carter and Fannie Mae Capen Carter. He attended Bethel schools and graduated from Gould Academy in 1933.

In later years when reflecting on his life, his favorite memories were of working in the woods camps in and around the environs of northern Oxford and Franklin counties.

He was a Teamster, a bookkeeper, and from 1940 to 1942, worked as a scalar and river drive foreman for the Brown Co. in Kennebago.

In 1942, he bought the family farm in Middle Intervale, which had been in the Carter family for five generations. He was a dairy farmer and a careful steward of his woodland.

He served as Bethel selectman for one term and also served on several school committees. He was a community committeeman on the ASCS. He took great pride in being a tree farmer.

He is survived by his sons, Thomas of Bethel, Timothy and wife, Jo-Ellen, also of Bethel, David and wife, Ann, of Oxford, and Stephen and wife, Donna, of Rumford Center; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Lyndell Cotton Carter, who died Oct. 31, 2002; three brothers, “Gus,” Stanley and Paul; and one sister, Rebecca Bailey.

His sons remember his favorite saying, “I don’t want to tell you how to do it, but if you were to ask me, then I would do it this way.” He’d then proceed to tell them exactly how he’d do it. He was always the boss. They also remember how he loved to garden and give the vegetables to family, friends and neighbors. He lived to work.

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