BENNIE CARTER JR.
February 13, 1940 to January 26, 2019
A born teacher
Bennie Carter, Jr—a man whose life revolved around teaching and family—passed away of congestive heart failure at Loyola Hospital, in Maywood, IL, on Tuesday, January 26, his beloved wife of 46 years, Josie, daughter Ericka, and grandson Xavier by his side. He was seventy-eight.
A resident of Forest Park, IL, Bennie had a passion for teaching, sports, and fundraising for his alma mater, West Virginia State University. A member of the Chicago Board of Education for 34 years, he taught high-school biology, his profession until he retired in 2005. He also taught classes to inmates at Cook County Jail for ten years.
A love of learning
Bennie’s love of learning was instilled in his only child, Ericka, who says her dad “believed in education and encouraged me to get my degrees. He supported me in whatever I did.”
One of three sons, Bennie was born February 13, 1940, in St. Petersburg, FL, to Bennie Carter Sr. and Alice Griffin Carter. He and his brothers, Clarence and Ronald, grew up in a loving, rambunctious family in the town where Bennie came into the world. He later said that St. Petersburg was “the best city ever.”
After graduating from Gibbs High School, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and West Virginia State University, in Charleston, going on to earn a “Master’s in Education plus 40 hours,” as he liked to brag, from Governors State University in Chicago.
After joining the U.S. Army, he spent two years as a special intelligence officer, including one year in Frankfurt, Germany. Bennie married the girl of his dreams, Josie, on April 26, 1973.
