Cleveland author turning 96 Friday

A Cleveland native and author will see his 96th birthday on Friday, March 26th. Born to Virgil Willis Carter and Dora Wright Carter, Keith Clark Carter grew up in Cleveland, Texas—his father serving as Liberty County Tax Assessor-Collector until his untimely death in April 1939, when Keith was only 14. From then, Keith’s mother Dora carried on by serving in the job Virgil had vacated for the Cleveland public schools.

Keith, who personally never lived at Tarkington Prairie, grew up in the shadow of those in his family who did, namely John Clark Wright and his brother Solomon Wright, who owned a store there together before Sol left the business to “ramble.” When Keith graduated from Cleveland High School in 1943, he posted the highest academic grade ever scored by a graduating student.

Keith and his wife, Ghita Brockway Carter, both have literary connections in their line. His great uncle, Solomon Alexander Wright, wrote a book which J. Frank Dobie published posthumously called My Rambles as East Texas Cowboy, Hunter, Fisherman, Tie-Cutter. One of Ghita’s ancestors named James Robert Adair, wrote The History of American Indians.

After graduating, Keith joined the U. S. Army in the 102nd Infantry, where he was captured and remained a POW in Germany until the end of the war. He captured these experiences in his book published in 2019 entitled Just Another Soldier, which is available for purchase through his daughter Jamie Carter Bollich; the public can contact her at (409) 767-6537 or jamiebollich@yahoo.com.

Upon returning from the war, Keith attended Rice University and graduated from The University of Texas with a law degree in1950. While working for Conoco, his specialty was offshore oil leases; later, he retired from teaching Petroleum Land Management at the University of Texas in 1990.

Presently he lives with his wife Ghita in Sun City near Georgetown. They had three children:

Jamie Kathryn Carter, Steve Carter and Julie Carter.