Those who knew him best describe Bishop Clarence Carr, who attained some of the highest leadership positions in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, as a man who was always willing to give someone a second chance.
“There’s a story of Michelangelo that comes to my mind,” said the Rev. Vernon A. Shannon, the bishop's best friend, of John Wesley AME Zion Church in Washington.
“Michelangelo would take a stone that had been rejected by others … and work with that stone. When asked why he did so, he’d say, ‘I see the face of an angel in this stone and I need to let it out,’” the Rev. Shannon said.
“Bishop Carr always looked for the good in the people with whom he served – pastors and others as well. He gave pastors and others a chance to serve that perhaps others might not have given them.”
Bishop Carr’s wife of 49 years, Barbara, said her husband “was known for giving people second and third chances to serve as pastors of various congregations. Maybe when other bishops may have said, ‘No, I don’t have an appointment for you,’ he was always willing to take another chance on someone.”
Bishop Carr, 73, of Marietta died at home Wednesday of complications from diabetes.
A public viewing will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday in Willie A. Watkins Historic West End Chapel, 1003 Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd., Atlanta. A wake service will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at Shaw Temple AME Zion Church, 775 Hurt Road, Smyrna; and a homegoing service, at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the church.
Interment will follow immediately at Mount Harmony Cemetery, Mableton. Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Bishop Carr was born on Feb. 7, 1938 in Orangeburg, S.C. He grew up in Washington, D.C., and Jamaica, N.Y., graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in the Long Island city.
Mrs. Carr, an Augusta native, met her future husband on a visit to New York. At the time, he was working as a short-order cook for a local restaurant, the Brass Rail.
“He started going to church with me,” she said. “The last Sunday I was there, he joined Rush Temple AME Zion Church in Jamaica-Long Island, N.Y., and he started writing me, and his letters just completely changed, and he felt the call to the ministry.”
The bishop began his ministerial work in 1961 in Jamaica. He served in churches in New York, North Carolina and Missouri. He was admitted to the annual conference in 1963, and was ordained a deacon in 1964 and an elder in 1966.
Bishop Carr earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Livingstone College in 1970 and a master of divinity degree from Hood Theological Seminary in 1972. Both are in Salisbury, N.C.
In two communities where he had churches, Bishop Carr also ran for elected office. He served on the East Spencer, N.C., Board of Aldermen and the Hempstead, N.Y., City Council.
While leading historic Washington Metropolitan AME Zion Church in St. Louis from 1984 to 1992, Bishop Carr was president of the AME Zion Ministerial Alliance of St. Louis and hosted the KIRL “Fountain of Life” weekly radio program.
He also served on the executive committee of the NAACP of Greater St. Louis and the board of the National Urban League of St. Louis.
Bishop Carr was elected to the episcopacy from the pastorate of Washington Metropolitan, and was consecrated the 89th Bishop of the AME Zion Church on July 28, 1992 by the 44th General Conference meeting in Atlanta.
He was assigned to the Western Episcopal District, and assisted with the Mid-West Episcopal District and presided over the Michigan and Missouri conferences from 2002 to 2004. In August 2004, Bishop Carr was assigned the South Atlantic Episcopal District, which includes Georgia and South Carolina.
Bishop Carr also was secretary of the Board of Bishops of the AME Zion Church and chairman of its Overseas Missions and Lay Activities boards; commission chairman of the Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union, and a member of the Presidium of the World Methodist Council.
The bishop served on the NAACP national board, and as board chairman of Clinton Junior College in Rock Hill, S.C., and a trustee on the boards of Livingstone College and Hood Theological Seminary.
Bishop and Mrs. Carr moved from St. Louis to Marietta in 2005, and he retired as bishop three years later.
“Bishop Carr will best be remembered as one of the outstanding preachers and spiritual leaders of our denomination,” the Rev. Shannon said.
“He will also be remembered as a civic activist,” the friend said, noting Bishop Carr’s work to desegregate the public schools in North Carolina and his work with the NAACP.
Mrs. Carr said, “He served people well and he was a reconciler, bringing people together who had differences. … He was a devoted husband and a caring father and grandfather, and a lover of people.”
Besides his wife, Bishop Carr is survived by daughter Leslie Denise Carr-Robinson; son Mark Anson Carr; two granddaughters; two brothers, Darell Baxter and Kevin O'Daniel, and a sister, Wanda Tolliver.
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