Hatsumi "Mary" Carter

Hatsumi (Mary) Carter was born Sept.4, 1931 in Tokyo, Japan. She was a sweet, kind and caring woman, with a delightful sense of humor. Her American friends knew her as Mary.

Hatsumi attended the University of Tokyo, with the intention of being a journalist just like her father.

Hatsumi immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s through the sponsorship of Emma Adams of Taylorville, IL. She became a naturalized citizen and married Thomas Adams, Emma’s son. She had her first child, Elizabeth Ann in 1954.

A few years after the death of her husband Tom, Hatsumi met and later married Curtis McKinley Carter. Her second child, Lillian Ann, was born in 1959. Her third and last child, James Patrick, was born in 1961.

Hatsumi worked as a nurses aide in the 1970s for Warner Robins Rehabilitation Center. She later worked as a seamstress for Ingleside Bridals. An accomplished tailor, she could recreate an outfit from just a photo as a reference. Hatsumi also painted for many years. Her preferred medium was oil on canvas.

Hatsumi was a member of the Warner Robins chapter of Ikebana (the art of Japanese flower arrangement) International. For several years, her arrangements graced the Woodruff House in Macon during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

In her later life, she found happiness in reading her Japanese literature and watching her Japanese network, NHK, on TV.

She is survived by her husband, Curtis McKinley Carter and her three children, Elizabeth Person, Lillian Davis (David), and James Carter; her granddaughter, Heather Elizabeth Pitman (Evan), and great-grandson, Leo Alan Pitman. She is preceded in death by her mother, Hiroko Suzuki, and her father, Kiyoshi Hinomizu, and her granddaughter, Hannah Mary Person.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation be made in her name to a favorite charity or animal rescue group.