Ruth Carter with grandchildren, Thanksgiving 2012

Chapel services will be held on Thursday, March 14, at 2:30pm with burial in Crestwood Cemetery in Gadsden. Visitation will be from 12:30pm until 2:30pm Thursday. 

She is survived by her daughter Nancy Carter Brown of Huntsville, sons Donald Joe Carter and Phillip Roscoe Carter of Birmingham, grandchildren Donya, Stacey, Dena, Dianna, Emilee, Kaycee, and Jonathan, 6 great grandchildren, and brother J.D. "Spud" Alexander. 

Mrs. Carter was a member of Trussville First Baptist Church; was an owner and worked 53 years at skating rinks ending at Trussville PlayStation and is the recipient of the Bob Bollinger Lifetime Achievement Award. Jefferson Memorial Trussville directing.

Ruth Carter was born August 9, 1920 and started in the roller skating business with her husband J.P. Carter in 1959 building and operating Rainbow Skate Center in Gadsden, Alabama at which time they both became members of the RSROA.  The Carters advanced in roller skating by building several locations over the next 50 years beginning with Rainbow Skate Center in Anniston Alabama in 1963 and then Rainbow Skate Center in Huntsville, Alabama in 1967, Skate Haven in Birmingham, Alabama in 1970, Fun Spot Skate Center in Fultondale, Alabama in 1972, Holiday Skate Center in Birmingham, Alabama in 1974, Skate World in Hoover, Alabama in 1976, Skate Palace in Irondale, Alabama in 1982, Skate Station in Trussville, Alabama in 1996, and Spinners Skate Center in Fairfield, Alabama in 2006. The Carters also were a skate distributor for Sure Grip brand skates, a distributorship known as Dixie Skate Supply, which they sold in 1975 to Wayne Ramsey who formed Southeastern Skate Supply.

Out of the Carter's operation and management there have developed several skating centers and rink operators starting 1967 when L.R. Brown (son-in-law to Ruth Carter) became a partner in Rainbow Skate Center in Huntsville, Alabama and later building several other locations in the Northern Alabama/Tennessee region where Brown served many offices in the RSA and has received many awards for the advancement of roller skating. Included in the Carter's tutelage is Robert Bentley who worked for the Carters and later purchased the Fun Spot location in Fultondale, Alabama in 1984 (which is now Funtime Skate Center) as a result of the management and training received in the Carter's program. Bentley now successfully owns and operates skating rinks in Central Alabama, Pensacola, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia, and also has served as President/V.P. of Section 8 of the Roller Skating Association for a number of years. 

Mrs. Carter has unselfishly helped other operators get into the business of roller skating or helped them to remain, including L.R. Brown, Robert Bentley, Bob Cross, Phil Carter, Bo Trotter and Clay England.

Mrs. Carter successfully operated Dixie Skate Supply for several years which distributed supplies and skates to roller skating rinks all over the Southeast. She successfully operated roller skating rinks for 50 years, held major speed meets in her facilities (such as the Dixie Classic held Easter weekend for many years, an event considered one of the largest speed meets in the country). Ruth Carter's beginning thoughts for a roller skating rink and distributorship was to create a place where her family could be safe and enjoy the sport of roller skating and then later extending it to her extended family and all of the kids who have skated in her facilities who she considered kids of her own. 

For more information, condolences, etc. visit: http://www.jmgardens.com/book-of-memories/1518288/Carter-Ruth/index.php