George Laurent Carter, Jr., Columbia businessman, merchant, proprietor of Southern Sales Furniture, and Korean War veteran passed away Saturday, September 14, 2019 in Columbia, Tennessee one month after his 90th birthday.
Born August 15, 1929 in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee, he was the eldest son of the late George Laurent Carter, Sr. and Martha Ellen Cartledge Carter. As a child he resided in Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky, moving to Columbia in 1936 (when his father became employed by Monsanto Chemical Co.), finally settling with his parents in Riverside in 1938. A seventh generation Tennessean, he was a descendant of three 19th century preachers, five Revolutionary War soldiers, one War of 1812 soldier, and three Civil War soldiers.
While a student at Columbia Central High School he founded the Camera Club. He was an avid photographer, capturing many scenes of Columbia in the 1940’s and 1950’s. He was employed by Princess Theater before it burned and Orman’s Photo Shop in the late 1940’s. He graduated from Columbia Military Academy in 1949.
From 1950 to 1954 he served four years in the United States Navy during the Korean War, principally in the Far East, as an electrician, photographer, and movie operator (during the war aboard the Ulvert M. Moore and after the war aboard the U.S.S. Manchester), earning four battle stars.
Returning to Columbia he was employed by Hewgley’s Music Shop (as salesman and honorary band director) and attended Columbia Business College. In 1955 he founded the first of fifteen businesses, Memory Lane Recording Studio, in Columbia. The establishment of Midstate Collection Bureau/Credit Bureau/Employment Agency (with an office above Gordon’s at the historic Masonic building) would follow, as well as other companies and stores in Columbia, Nashville, Huntsville, and Washington D.C. In 1991 he opened Southern Sales Furniture which he operated for 28 years until the age of 90. For several years he was a vendor at the Middle Tennessee Civil War Show in Nashville.
He attended Parkway Baptist Church but was a member of Riverside United Methodist Church, and a former member (in childhood) of First United Methodist Church. He was also a member of the American Legion.
He is survived by his son, Stephen Laurent Carter; brother, William Hull (Rita) Carter; nephews, Joe Thornton (Amanda) Carter, Jr. and David Tully (Regina) Carter; grandnieces, Kasey Nichole Carter and Laura Desaray Carter; great-grandnephew, Bralyn Fox; and five first cousins. He was preceded in death by his wife, Syble Carter in 2009 and his brother, Joe Thornton Carter, Sr. in 2015.
Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 2:00 P.M. at Parkway Baptist Church with Reverend Mike Roberts officiating. Burial will follow in Polk Memorial Gardens with military honors provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post 19. The family will visit with friends Tuesday from 4:00 – 8:00 P.M. and Wednesday from 12:00 P.M. until service time at the church. Oakes & Nichols Funeral Directors are assisting the family with arrangements and condolences may be extended online at www.oakesandnichols.com.
