Oct.
12, 1922 - July 11, 2010SOUTH BEND - Brother Stephen Daniel Carter, C.S.C., 87, died Sunday evening at the Quinn Memory Care Center in Holy Cross Village at Notre Dame, IN, after an extended illness. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on October 12, 1922. He was the fifth of six children of John and Frances (Owens) Carter. He attended Holy Family Grade School in New Bedford and Central High School in Boston. He entered the Congregation in August 1941, but decided to leave the community six months later in order to join the Navy during World War II. He worked as a fork-lift operator in the Quartermaster Depot for four years and later as a carpenter's assistant. Stephen re-entered the Congregation, going to the juniorate at Watertown, WI, in June 1948, and then the novitiate in Rolling Prairie, IN, where he made his first profession as a Holy Cross Brother on August 16, 1949. He pronounced his final vows on August 16, 1952, at Notre Dame. His first assignment was to serve at the Silver Lake Farm at the Rolling Prairie novitiate from 1949-1951. He then worked for a year at St. Joseph's Farm in Granger, IN and also at St. Charles Boys Home in Milwaukee. Br. Stephen then returned to work on the staff at St. Joseph's Farm in Granger for nine years until 1962. That year he was assigned to serve on the staff at St. Edward's University in Austin, TX, where he was a talented maintenance director and grounds superintendent for 14 years until 1976. During his tenure at St. Edward's, Br. Stephen took the necessary classes in the evenings for 12 years so that in 1974 he earned a bachelor of arts degree in history. In 1976 Br. Stephen was a staff member at Holy Cross High School in San Antonio, TX, and the following year he served on the staff at the Carmel Residence in Fallbrook, CA, where he did maintenance work for the Carmelite Sisters. Br. Stephen's own sister was the mother general of the community. Beginning in 1979, Br. Stephen took up residence at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, CA, where he served as a staff member in a variety of maintenance duties and in his favorite pursuit of landscaping and beautifying the campus of the school. He retired in 1988 by reducing the level of energy he spent on maintenance jobs and grounds work. He always loved art classes he had taken at St. Edward's and now was able to devote more time to his hobby of watercolor creations. In 1998 the high school newspaper featured Br. Stephen for his work in beautifying the campus by collecting and recycling bottles, cans and other trash, using the money, he told the newspaper, for his efforts to feed the needy. Br. Stephen spent a total of 28 years at Notre Dame High and in 2007 he moved back to Austin to live at the Br. Vincent Pieau Residence. In 2009 he moved to Dujarie House at Notre Dame for health reasons. Visitation will be held at the Our Lady of Holy Cross Chapel in the Schubert Villa/Dujarie House facilities at Holy Cross Village on Thursday, July 15th, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. The funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m., with interment following at St. Joseph's Cemetery at Holy Cross Village. Kaniewski Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Memorial contributions in honor of Brother Stephen to support the mission and ministries of the Brothers may be sent to Brothers of Holy Cross, Office of Development, P.O. Box 460, Notre Dame, IN 46556.