remembering Keith Carter

Mr. Carter was a part of my family's Arabian experience from the very beginning.

As a kid I wanted to be the Lone Ranger and dressed the part of a cowboy everywhere I went. During a tantrum in Houston, at an Aramco orientation for new teachers. I took off one of my cowboy boots and flung it over the balcony as I was upset with my parents. As fate would have it, the boot landed in the middle of a table occupied by Keith. My parents, who had heard about Keith through mutual family friends, Tom and Ann Monson, introduced themselves to Keith and then had to ask for the boot back. Keith always joked that he would stay teaching until I passed through his sixth grade class.

Almost a decade later, I experienced the legendary teaching methods Keith shared with so many other students. The European and African notebooks were the most difficult, time-consuming, yet most rewarding projects. What brilliance and vision he had to have sixth graders research every country on those continents, draw a map of their profile, draw a map of their flag and find an article inside a newspaper featuring that country. I ended up majoring in history in college and I am convinced that year in sixth grade with Keith inspired that.

My other favorite project in Keith's class was investing in stocks. Yeah, I did this later in high school, but by that time I had already experienced Keith's methodical preparations in which we always had to show the work we had completed and provide a reason WHY we selected what we had. I still remember Shane Lambert was the big winner in the class as Chrysler was a big mover in 1992! I was conservative with my fake money and had selected a few mutual funds along with my favorite fast food restaurant McDonald's.

I was a paperboy for the Arab News and Saudi Gazette in 7th, 8th and 9th grades and Keith was on my route. I knew he loved getting his daily news, and as one of my teachers, I wanted to make sure his paper never got caught in the sprinkler system. His was the only paper I did not throw in a baseball-style toss, instead I placed his neatly folded copy on his doorstep. He rewarded me with a handsome tip each month. I think he always knew the style I delivered all the other papers and tipped me so that his paper did not receive the same delivery experience!

Keith was a family friend and we continued to have reunions when he retired back to Iowa. We visited his Arab Heritage Museum in Newell a few times, the most recently three years ago when I was able to introduce Keith to my wife. His health had noticeably declined but he still spent a few hours with us telling stories of his world travels, his museum treasures from all over the Middle East and Africa and he even prepared coffee in an old Arabian coffee pot. That was the last time I saw him in person.

Keith, your patience, worldly vision, and strong conviction to always do the right thing and to ALWAYS show your legwork will live in those of us who were lucky enough to be your students.

Thank you teacher and friend!
Lars