JoAnne W. Carter, 81
JoAnne W. Carter died at home in Sag Harbor on April 17 after surviving stage-four ovarian cancer for four years. She had celebrated her 81st birthday at the American Hotel there a month earlier.
Ms. Carter was devoted to community life, historic preservation, and her church, and had considered painting her second career. She worked in many mediums and was known for still lifes and portraits.
A longtime resident of Brooklyn, she was a former board member of the Brooklyn Museum and the Society of Long Island Antiquities and a president of the Brooklyn chapter of Jack and Jill of America. Here, she was a member of the Choral Society of the Hamptons and the Sag Harbor Village Board of Historical Preservation and Architectural Review, and a trustee of the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum.
She was on the vestry of Sag Harbor’s Christ Episcopal Church, where a service celebrating her life was held on April 22. The Rev. Karen Ann Campbell, who officiated, wrote that Ms. Carter “employed a spiritual gift of healing” and “shared her love of music and her beautiful voice in our choir.”
JoAnne Williams Carter was born on March 25, 1935, in Brooklyn to Edgar Thomas Williams Sr. and Elnora Bing Williams. She grew up there and attended Hunter high school in Manhattan. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in 1978, and a master’s in 1980.
She and Robert L. Carter, who were married for 53 years, divided their time between Brooklyn and Sag Harbor until 1996, when they made the South Fork their year-round residence. Her husband died two years ago.
Three children survive. They are Anthony Prendatt-Carter of Jersey City, Janine Carter of Brooklyn, and Tiffany Carter of Providence, R.I. She also leaves a brother, E.T. Williams of Sag Harbor; a sister, Thea Girigorie of Glennville, N.Y., a granddaughter, and a great-granddaughter. Her family wrote that Pamela Kern of Sag Harbor, a friend, had seen “to her every need in the last years of her life.”
Among her many other activities, Ms. Carter had been treasurer and president of the Eastville Community Historical Society in Sag Harbor. A memorial gathering will be held there on June 4 from 2 to 6 p.m.