Mary Louise Bowser Carter, who was born February 18, 1931, on Main Street in Tuscumbia, AL, some three blocks from the Ivy Green birthplace of Helen Keller, passed away from natural causes into the arms of her Loving Father on Monday, December 15, 2025 under Hospice care at Mitchell-Hollingsworth Nursing Center in Florence, AL. She was 94.
She was the daughter of the late John Harper Sr. and Mary F. “Mayme” Sherman Bowser of Tuscumbia.
Mrs. Carter, who was salutatorian of Tuscumbia’s Deshler High School in 1948 and lieutenant governor at Alabama American Legion Girls State in summer 1947, had a long and active career in education and charity in the Colbert County and greater Muscle Shoals area.
She was swept off her feet by former Vanderbilt football player Sam Carter of Sheffield in the late 1940s, and they were married in Tuscumbia on December 8, 1950 – 75 years ago. She married Sam at the age of 19 just after finishing her semester final exams at Florence State (now University of North Alabama) earlier that week. The couple relocated to Sheffield where Mrs. Carter resided for the rest of her life.
She did keep a strong bond with her Tuscumbia roots from the 1960s onward as a faithful parishioner at Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church, which opened with OLS parochial school in January 1960. She also maintained her duties as a church secretary, organist (she began playing at church services at the age of 12 in 1943), a choir member for 50-plus years, taught Catholic Youth Organization classes, and was president of such groups as the church’s Altar Society and Parent Teacher Association throughout her years there.
She also participated in such groups as the Junior League Follies, the Sheffield Public Library and support groups for Sheffield HS athletics for several decades and later began multiple office and bookkeeping duties at Sam Carter Oil Company in Sheffield.
Mrs. Carter joined her mother Mayme with a lifetime love of crossword puzzles, Sudoku, travel, and enjoying sports on all levels. Besides her alma mater UNA, she loved the Auburn Tigers, Vanderbilt Commodores and Mississippi State Bulldogs for many years while attending dozens of regular-season and bowl games from the time that she married fellow sports fan Sam.
She used to tell the family that she would take a low-key approach in the stands as the wife of Sam when he officiated numerous high school football games, some of Florence State’s first football games after the Lions rejuvenated that program in 1949 and Little League Baseball All-Star Games throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
She always was a great fan of musician Taylor Hicks and cherished autographed photos of Hicks and her favorite Auburn player – Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton.
She is survived by sons, Bo (spouse Joanne) of Carrollton, TX, and John (Amanda) of Muscle Shoals; daughters, Ann (W.L. Butler) of Sheffield and Georgia Turner of Ormond Beach, FL, along with granddaughters, Ashley (Nick Howell), Rebecca (Dee Clark), and Jessica (Jason Frost); grandson, Nic Allsbrooks (Effie), and great-grandchildren, Aubrie Moss, Riley Howell, Darien Clark, Davion Clark, Evan Frost, and Wiley Carter Allsbrooks, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by husband Sam, brother John Bowser and son Bob Carter.
Pallbearers for the service will be Tom Bowser, Bob Bowser, Dan Thompson, Reece Thompson, Nick Howell, and Dee Clark.
Honorary pallbearers are employees of Carter Oil Company.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday, December 19, at noon at Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church, 200 East Commons North, in Tuscumbia with Father Benny Karimalikkal and visitation in the church sanctuary from 10-11:30 a.m. and Rosary at 11:30 a.m. prior to the Mass. Interment will take place after the Mass at Holy Cross Cemetery adjacent to the church grounds.
Memorial donations may be made to Friends of the Sheffield Library, 316 N Montgomery Ave, Sheffield, AL 35660; and Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church, 200 East Commons North, Tuscumbia, AL 35674.
Online condolences may be left at morrisonfuneralhomes.com.
