Gaines Carter Owen, Jr.

Carter Owen, né Gaines Carter Owen Jr., age 68, died on Friday March 28, 2025, in Meridian, Mississippi.

He was preceded in death by his earthly father, Gaines Carter Owen Sr.

He is survived by his mother, Bobbie Jean [Joyner] Owen; his brothers, Robert Owen (Susan) and Todd Owen (Kristin); and his four children, Emily Owen, Gaines Carter Owen III (Sarah), Sylvia Owen, and Audrey Owen.

Carter was born to Gaines and Bobbie Owen at Watkins Hospital in Quitman, Clarke County, Mississippi on Monday October 29, 1956. Carter’s creative talents blossomed early, fostered by the many art, voice, guitar, and piano lessons he took as a boy. He also had a love for the outdoors and athletics. His younger brother Robert remembers being woken up late many a school night to Carter demonstrating new karate moves he had learned at a lesson, usually leaving Robert on the floor of the living room. Carter, Robert, Todd, and their parents were avid skiers and frequently drove to Aspen, Colorado to hit the slopes over the years.

Upon graduating from Quitman High School in 1974, Carter attended college at the University of Southern Mississippi where he majored in photojournalism and minored in English. During this time, Carter became a gifted photographer. While pursuing his studies in the visual and written arts, Carter still managed to fit a few snow skiing courses into his official class schedule. He graduated from Southern Miss with a B.S in Journalism in 1980.

Carter worked as a landman with the Southern Bell Telephone Company and Griffith Well Company throughout Mississippi and Louisiana for several years before moving back to Quitman where he opened up and built a thriving, and delicious, business - Carter’s Snoworks. He served over 50 flavors of New Orleans style snowballs at the colorful roadside stand he built on Highway 45 North.

Eventually, Carter turned the snowball business over to his mother and father, and he went back to school at Meridian Junior College where he received an Associate’s Degree in Nursing. The notes Carter took while in the nursing program at Meridian were renowned by his peers and helped many students make it through nursing school.

Carter was a Registered Nurse for most of his adult life. He worked in the ICU at hospitals in Clarke County, the greater New Orleans area, New York City, Oakland, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco.

When he wasn’t working, Carter loved to ski, run, bike, ride horses, write poetry and short stories, sing, play guitar, watch films, and read the Bible.

He shared his passions with his four children from the moment they were born, instilling in all of them a love for music, art, and nature. Carter ran the Crescent City Classic in New Orleans, Louisiana many times while pushing his toddlers Emily and Gaines in a stroller. Carter enjoyed taking his children on outdoor adventures as often as he could. He even had a short story about one such trip, Canoeing the Chickasawhay, published in the Clarke County Tribune in 2016.

Carter loved the Lord. He became a Christian in July 1968 at Quitman’s First Baptist Church when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior after returning from a church youth camp. From that point onward, he never hesitated to tell others about God and about Heaven. Later in his life, Carter traveled to Dallas, Texas to play a part in the historical drama television series, “The Chosen.” He was cast as a follower of Jesus Christ at the Sermon on the Mount Scene, and he was a natural in the role.

Carter was a romantic at heart, and he never met a stranger. He was a kind, generous, and loving man. He loved flowers and all things beautiful in the natural world.

Sunday afternoon on April 27, 2025, surrounded by family, friends, and the warm sunshine, Carter was laid to rest next to his father at Mt Pisgah Cemetery, 11367 County Road 511 Quitman, Mississippi. He is deeply missed.

The staff of Webb & Stephens Funeral Homes-North is grateful for the opportunity to honor Carter’s life and memory and to serve his loving family during this time.