“Honestly, I don’t remember a minute without music,” China Carter said. “Every Friday we went to the gas station here in Wapak and picked up a Dayton Daily News. We’d sit on the couch and see what our weekend schedule was going to be. As early as I can remember music was our focus in our house. That’s where we’d spend our weekends. If there was nothing going on we’d do other cool stuff, but music was number one on the list on Friday. I spent a big chuck of childhood doing that.”
Carter was born in York, Maine on May 20, 1960. He was in elementary school when his family moved to Ohio. He graduated from Continental High School in 1978 and married his wife, Sylvia Kuhns, the following April. They bought a house in Wapakoneta in 1992.
“Dad was the youngest child of a Methodist pastor,” Carter said. “They traveled all over from state to state and landed in St. Mary’s. That’s where he went to high school for a while and that’s how he met my mom. As a teenager, he traveled and hitchhiked from place to place. He was very outgoing and always in love with music.
“He supported bands from all over,” she continued. “Dayton is a straight shot down I-75 from Wapak. Sometimes he’d travel to Detroit to see bands play. He put in a lot of miles.”
Carter’s interests weren’t limited to local music.
“Dad loved Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and the Stones,” Carter said. “We’d go see them as well. It’s a large music industry and, as I like to say, he was a historian of many things. His archive of memories was just unparalleled to anyone else I know. He was also into other things like books and comic books. He loved sci-fi. We’ll cherish the collections he left us forever.”
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or donthrasher100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
What: The Tom Carter Project featuring Legbone, the Most Falcons, Invisible Strings, A La Carte and Bandages
Where: Moulton Gun Club, 14062 Bay Road, Wapakoneta
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, May 18
Cost: $10; proceeds benefit WYSO
More info: facebook.com/events/762790285957241
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