By John Carter with Gerry Legere

John Carter and I were very good friends from junior high (9th  grade) through high school.

Once we graduated, everyone took a different path to follow. Mine was the Air Force.

I came home on leave once and drove to visit the Carters. Surprisingly, I was told the Carters no longer lived there. And I had no idea who to contact to get information.

Fast forward to 2024 and the miracle known as Facebook. I did not use Facebook (Meta) for personal use. It was only after our 50^th reunion and classmates convincing me I needed to be on Facebook. That was when, after 50 plus years, I was able to connect with John.

John has given me permission to tell his story. I knew John as a quiet kid as well as being very humble. Humility, I knew, would keep John from telling us his story. Humility was one of the incredible traits of his entire family. Gracious, caring and sharing. It was that sharing and caring that introduced me to the First Baptist Church of Princeton.

It may prove difficult to condense 50 years of adventures into a story, certainly not a single story because John’s life is the story.

To date, John has traveled to over 160 countries, either for missionary work or personal pleasure.

John: “Hello Gerry!!   I live in Va Bch. Va.   After I finished grad school I hiked the entire Appalachian trail for 6 months with a 65 lb pack.   I lost 90 lbs after 2168 miles.  Soon afterwards I went to work in Malawi, east Africa.   After several years I returned to Va and worked on mega yachts 180-240 footers.   Then I went to work in the navy shipyard.   Became a specialist pipe fitter.   After a boat was repaired I always got drafted to leave port and go out to sea for 2-3 weeks to test weapons.usually 200 miles offshore.   The only problem was no WiFi.  Three years ago I retired.//.  When in Africa I got NAUI certified as a SCUBA diver.   Now when I want I dive cleaning boat bottoms while they still sit in the water.   A lucrative job.  $150 hour.//. I am married to a massage therapist from China.   We have our own business.   In 2 years Ping (my wife) will retire and we will travel overseas.  I love retirement”

“I also hold certifications in hydraulics, electrical, mechanical, speleological cave exploration and have been a professional photographer for over 40 years.   Now I think you may understand me better”

“Charged twice by elephants.  I’ll send some pictures to your email address later”

How’s that for a reintroduction. In the years of his travels, John also became a professional photographer (more on that later) to add to his resume along with all his certifications.

Gerry: “Sounds like you will end up as a feature on the website as the most traveled classmate.”
John: “I don’t know about that although I have been in 160 countries.”
Gerry:  “Incredible journey!”
John: “I’ll never forget those grasshopper drinks at your house in Princeton.  A great memory….i think. Haven’t had one since.”

I have to interject here: I honestly do not know what John is talking about when he mentioned “grasshopper drinks”. He would bring this up a few times in our conversations. Being the son of a preacher, he must be telling the truth – and even remembers when this occured!

Gerry: “I’ll never forget our time together. You and your family remain a huge part of my heart. It was only meeting and hanging out with you that I learned about other religions.
John: “I think you and Murph were my closest friends in high school.   We have come a long way since then and survived lots. It’s my pleasure we reconnected!!!”
Gerry: “Yes we have and thank you for those kind words. Sounds (Sounds of Conviction) and stage crew .Me too. SO much to talk about. We’ll need to connect by phone at some point.”
John: “I will be glad to share with you any information you want.   Stuart retired 15 yrs ago and camping a lot in his trailer.  Kelly died about 15 years ago with ovarian cancer. Janie is in Georgia.  Both she and her husband are certified licensed psychologists and still working.  Sheryl lives in France with her husband and also retired.Sheryl’s 4 of 5 kids live in Europe with exceptional gifts in careers.  That’s another story completely.”
Gerry: “All of you were so smart which speaks volumes of your parents and family values. I am so sorry to hear about Kelly. Such a beautiful kid. Glad to hear about your older siblings successes as well. And it is absolutely no surprise that Jane is a psychologist and I would dare say very successful (and busy).”
John: “I started writing some notes of my bio yesterday and took photos of my writing which will come to you via text.
Gerry: Absolutely and THANK YOU! You do need to write a bio.”
John: “I have been all over the world.  But never in Australia.  Every country south of Kenya.   All of South America. Jamaica and Bahamas.  I have worked humanitarian jobs in all these countries for free.  In fact when I left I gave away all my tools and clothing except for what I was wearing.”

“I have had lions put their chin on my Land Rover in the wild AND their nose up against my window so close I had to change lenses on my camera to get the full head.”

“In Africa I did a few stupid things and managed to live on….”once on foot I came upon a white rhino and her cub. To get a better photo I walked within 100 feet. How stupid of me now remembering the moment. Rhinos can run 20 mph and if she has a cub…. Consider yourself dead! I did however get a good picture//. … more to come …”

I did not move to Princeton until the 9th grade. I shocked and stunned when I found out that junior high includes the 9th grade and I would have to postpone my high school another year. During an event or something going on in the auditorium, I lit a firecracker in the auditorium which was a stupid thing to do. But…I had a partner in crime! Like an episode straight out of Steve Murphy’s GAME OF CRIMES, I neither owned the firecracker or the matches that lit it. Someone had given them to me and dared me to set it off. I did not have a clear memory of who it was but felt confident in narrowing my suspicion to two people – John Carter or Richard  Earls.

Gerry: “Here are some questions I have. We met each other in Junior High School. Question – was that you who was with me when I lit the firecracker in the Junior High auditorium?”
John: “It was my firecracker but you lit it AND IT BOUNCED BACK INSIDE making a loud noise.   Someone ratted us out…..”
Gerry: “Ratted us out? It was the entire 9th grade in there with us! Dude, that was the day we tested out the acoustics in that room – and it was superb! I think Jack Martin blistered my ass that day. Three day suspension – and I was supposed to be in Geoff Freeman’s band as the bass player for “American Woman”. (Note: This was for a junior high talent show)

John would later tell me, “Getting suspended in Jr high with you is one of my cherished memories.  ha ha,  today I don’t feel the pain on my backside, that I felt that day!”

Gerry: “So, what was it like growing up in Princeton, WV?”
John: “Growing up in Princeton…wow… my older brother and sister never got caught and I always got caught being the middle of five kids.   And I was the so[n] of a pastor of first Baptist.   Ha. Ha…. My most fond memories are with you and Steve Murphy.   Let’s not forget grasshoppers in your basement”

Again, I have no recollection of “grasshopper” drinks. I asked my siblings and surprisingly my sisters, Peggy and Karly, told me what they were and appear to remember them very well. So, perhaps they were served at one of the parties I had?

Gerry: “You, Steve, and I were pretty close. All the countless hours on the Mr. Lilly’s stage crew as well as the Sounds sets. Plus, we had plenty of time getting acquainted riding in the back of the trucks with the staging and equipment. Good ol’ Mr. Crawford and Buddy Fry directing the show.”
John: “My world travels were first sparked when sounds of conviction went to the British isles ..  later after hurricane  Gilbert struck Jamaica,   I was in grad school and was invited by a class mate to fly there with four other students to rebuild houses and churches destroyed. I think I got 11 hours of sleep in 10 days./// my third appetizer came years later to go to the Amazon jungle and build a new church deep in the jungle.SURPRISINGLY… I didn’t get eaten there either”

Gerry: “Do you have any idea or guess how many miles you have logged in all of your travels?”
John: “Great memories. I will have to work on that question. Damn…. I need paper to figure this out…Never been asked this before….I have to write down all the countries I have been in and somehow gauge the miles….  This is going to take a while….wow…. Good question!  ( just imagine….Africa is 7500 miles long and 3500 wide….   It’s a big place!!!!/// flights to South America numerous times… Europe numerous times….  This is going to take awhile…. THIS IS A LOADED QUESTION….whew…It’s mind boggling

You got me good.. never thought about it….   Now I personally need to know the answer.

“My entire life has been phenomenal. When I went back to school ((college), after the coal mines, I was in college, right?!!……in short… my 3 years at Samford…. I was professionally photographing for the university ( including big names…David Copperfield, Chicago, the Doobbie brothers, and then some…. )all for the university // also I was an administrator and head of Outdoor Recreation for the University,doing all professional recording sessions for the school of music , on site electrical consulting for the dean of housing AND THEN I SAID… wait. I’m just here to get my degree. Of course I kept all that other stuff in play …. a well paying lucrative business.”

“Wow Gerry… what can a person do in 50 years since PHS? Imagining, will, and ability. I think I still come up short.”

“Wow Gerry… you certainly stirred my memories! I thank you!!!”

“No worries…. I’ll work on the bio more today”

Gerry: “Thanks. No way can I do your life story, as far as writing a book. But I’ll put something together because I want the other classmates to know what we’ve been up to since graduation. Part of the website I’m doing will feature a section called, “My classmates. My story.” I’m going to encourage people to just give us a little bit of a bio on themselves and what they’ve been doing since graduation. And I want to tell your story.”

John and I would have several conversations, emails, exchanges, etc. There is a thumb drive on its way to me as I type this. This will have countless photographs as well as his wedding in China. That story will be forthcoming.