St. George, Utah - Fern Chadburn Carter's life was simple, industrious, service and family oriented, and without much fanfare, perhaps the life the Master wants us all to live, particularly when it is so effective in bringing about His work.

After spending four months at the St. George Care Center where the doctors, nurses, and attendants treated her so kindly, Mom passed away Saturday evening, November 17, 2012. Mom was born July 2, 1921, in St. George, Utah to loving parents, Benjamie Roe Chadburn and Martha Hunt Chadburn, pioneers in Veyo, who welcomed her as their fourth child, and always called her "Dolly." Though born on the eve of the Depression, farming was a lifestyle which insulated most families from desperate want, particularly if they worked hard enough, as did the Chadburns. Mom learned to work from the time she could walk and through her teenage years frequently worked at deer hunt camps or for relatives in addition to household chores as she learned to cook, bake, and keep house at her mother's knee.

Mom's formal education concluded in the 8th grade when she left school to take care of her own mother, Martha, who was suffering from heart conditions. Mom always regretted she had so little education and sometimes felt undereducated as she parented, particularly as she struggled to help children with English and arithmetic homework.

When the C.C.C. camps came to Veyo Mom dated several men working in that program, and nearly married one of them even though she didn't know that her future husband Howard Carter already had the inspiration while serving a mission that he was going to marry her. While they never dated before Howard left for the "field", Dad had strong premonitions about that Veyo girl. After returning from the field in September, 1941 - just three months later on Pearl Harbor Day - near the Sugar Loaf on the Red Hill, Dad proposed that they marry, and Mom accepted that proposal a week later.

On March 21, 1942, Howard Hunt Carter and Fern Chadburn Carter were married by President Harold Snow in the St. George Temple, an edifice where previous generations of their respective families had made such covenants. Our parents literally spent their honeymoon in a car traveling, incident to Dad's military commitments. After the marriage, children began arriving like clockwork, the first being Lloyd Chadburn Carter, who was the only child born outside St. George, as he was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, where Dad spent his first assignment in the service. Rather than being inducted into the military, Mom and Dad felt it best for Dad to volunteer, so he joined the Army Air Force. Mom followed Dad through several military assignments before he was sent overseas and Mom returned to Washington County to await her future. Oftimes during military moves Mom and Dad lived out of their car because they couldn't afford anything else. Before the arrival of children, Mom worked full time, then part time, and then, except for occasional stints at the title company office, never formally worked outside the home again.

Long before the Franklin Day Planner was created, Mom organized her family as chief manager (some would call it "taskmaster") over her family's music lessons, church participation, sports, and domestic chores. Because Mom always wanted to be a musician and be educated, she insisted that her children have opportunities that she did not have so enrolled them in music lessons and insisted that they do their homework. No child could play with friends until the music instrument was practiced, the homework completed, and the domestic chores done. Mom involved her children in home canning, baking, cleaning, gardening, weeding, landscape maintenance - both boys and girls - and taught us a work ethic that is legendary. She blended all that work with family outings, gatherings with relatives, regular summer vacations, swimming lessons, and commitment to the Gospel.

And then there was Pine Valley, which was one of the few things Mom really loved besides her family. She and Howard helped build their own cabin, and while it is old and weathered, it stands as a testimony to their devotion to an ideal and a project they could finish together. Mom loved to garden in Pine Valley and freely shared the fruits of her efforts, just as she shared her cooking and baking talents.

The lessons Mom taught her children will live on.

Mom served three missions with Dad. The first was to Rapid City, South Dakota, the second to the Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center, and the third as a local missionary in the St. George West Stake. Twice Mom served as Relief Society President. In her later years, she went to the temple weekly with Dad, sang in the ward choir, was a visiting teacher, and did anything else that was asked of her, including genealogy work, though she refused to learn how to use a computer.

Mom's physical strength and penchant for fitness are a great example to us all. When she was 80 years old the doctor asked her to quit jogging, fearing she may fall. While her physical strength remained great, we noticed Mom's mental faculties slipping after Dad's passing last January. Family never visited her but what she would tell them how difficult it was going on without "The Boss" as she always called Dad. Make no mistake about it, Mom was the boss of her home, and Dad allowed her the freedom to run it as she chose. Her life was marked with work, industry, service and family. Nobody could out work mom.

Mom is survived by her sisters, Melba Padovich (Joseph/deceased), Lois Perkins Thornton(Bob Perkins/deceased), and Sherwon Foremaster (LaVar). Her other siblings who have passed away are Remola Smith (Eldon/deceased), Ashby Chadburn (Evelyn/deceased), and Lloyd Chadburn (deceased).

Mom is survived by all of her children: Lloyd Chadburn Carter (Janet), Wenn Folkerson (Darrell/deceased), Howard Allan Carter (Kristine), Steven Reese Carter (Joyce), SuAnn Cannon, Thomas Brent Carter (Jerry Parkstone), Janet Carter Mason and foster son Norman (Rhonda) James, and dozens of grandchildren..

Funeral services will be held on Monday, November 26, 2012 at11:00 a.m. with Bishop George Osborne officiating, at the Sunset LDS 1 ^st Ward Chapel, 82 North DixieDrive, St. George, UT. Visitations will be held on Sunday, November 25, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Metcalf Mortuary, 288 West St. George Blvd. and on Monday, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. prior to services at the Stake Center. Interment will be in the St. George City Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to the care of Metcalf Mortuary, (435) 673-4221.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to ward missionary funds