Ann Whitmore Carter, 91

Ann Whitmore Carter, 91, of Millsboro, Del., passed away Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012, at home, in the presence of her family.

Carter was born Aug. 18, 1920, to Burton Canfield and Ruth McMichael Whitmore in Omaha, Neb. She was raised in Valley, Neb., and graduated in 1938 from Marlborough School in Los Angeles, Calif. She enrolled at Connecticut College, arriving New London, Conn., just days before the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, which ripped the front porch off her dormitory. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1942. In Connecticut, she and 12 young women called themselves “the Group,” and remained lifelong friends.

Carter met naval officer and her future husband, William A. Carter, on a blind date, and they married April 12, 1943, at New York City’s famed Little Church Around the Corner. The story of their wartime courtship and romance is told in her late husband’s 2008 World War II memoir, “Why Me, Lord?” After the war, they moved to Dagsboro, Del., and later to Millsboro, where Carter was active in St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and volunteered for community service organizations, including the Children’s Bureau of Delaware.

She worked with her husband in his life insurance agency, other business interests and state boards and commissions, including his role in founding Delaware Technical and Community College, for which he was an early trustee and board chairman. The Carters were known as a team until his passing in 2010.

In addition to her husband, Carter was preceded in death by her younger sister, Mary Whitmore Wedel; a son, William Whitmore Carter; and a step-grandson, Kai-uve M. Harvey. She is survived by her daughter, Melinda Carter Luedtke and her husband, Laurence, of Amelia Island, Fla.; her son, Richard B. Carter of Millsboro; six grandchildren, Rebecca Carter Villegas, Christopher Carter, Andrew Carter, Lance Luedtke, Matthew Carter and Catherine Carter; two step-grandchildren, Samuel and Annie Laurie Harvey; and two great-grandchildren, Samuel and Raquel Villegas. She is also survived by her nieces and nephews, Ann, Frank, Patricia, Valerie, Eric and their families.

Carter’s family thanked her beloved caregivers, Reesena and Carolyn Jones, Lillian Taylor, Charlotte Williams and Cynthia Hulbert for their sensitive and loving care and friendship, and her many devoted doctors and nurses at the office of Dr. Nancy Squires, at Peninsula Regional Medical Center, at Delaware Hospice and elsewhere.

A funeral service was scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. at Melson Funeral Services, 43 Thatcher Street in Frankford, Del., where friends and family may call after 12:30 p.m. Interment was to follow at Prince George’s Cemetery in Dagsboro, Del. In lieu of flowers, the family suggested donations to the Carter’s Grove Fund, planting memorial trees for Carter’s husband, Bill, and other veterans on the grounds of the Carter Partnership Center at Del Tech Owens Campus, or to the William A. Carter Scholarship Fund. Checks may be made payable to the “Delaware Tech Foundation” and sent to DTCC Owens Campus; P.O. Box 610; Georgetown, DE 19947.