25 May Tribute to Bishop Willie J Carr

Legendary Bridgeport Bishop Willie J. Carr, Sr. dies after touching thousands in the Park City over 50 years.

BY JAMES L. WALKER, JR.

BRIDGEPORT – The state of Connecticut lost one of its clergy icons of the local church community this week with the passing of Bishop Willie J. Carr, Sr.

The former East End Pastor of the Mt. Calvary Deliverance Tabernacle Church was 93-years-old. He leaves behind over 100 descendants and tons of family members and friends.

“Bishop Carr was the quintessential model of manhood. He was a stellar example of what a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, brother, and friend should be,” said Bishop Aaron Sneed. “He was not afraid of hard work and instilled that work ethic in his children.”

Sneed fondly recalled Bishop Carr “with his Bible in hand, vividly leading his family out to the car on their way to weekly church services.” “He was the perfection of the distinguished patriarch and his loyalty as a pastor to the Mt. Calvary Church was phenomenal.”

Bishop Carr, with only a sixth-grade education, pastored and ministered for over 30 years in the Park City. He was a master carpenter for the city, entrepreneur, and businessman. He was well-known for his service, business acumen, and kindness. He died last week peacefully at Shady Knoll Health Care Center.

“Bishop Carr was the epitome of a man of God,” said Bridgeport Fire Marshall Joseph A. Carr, Jr., Pastor of the Breakthrough Church in Hamden, who with his father Joseph A. Carr, Sr., also presided over and helped organize the homegoing service. “He showed me how to love God as a man and was an example of godliness and love.”

Around the Marina Village Housing Complex, he was always known to share a wise word with dozens of young people and residents there as a skilled worker.

And, around Bridgeport there was a group of clergy leaders that were respected and maintained a brotherhood that covered the city.

Bishop Carr, Bishop Ivory Holden, Bishop Curtis E. Mouning, Bishop T. Walter Plummer, Bishop Zebedee Stewart, Bishop J.C. White, and Bishop Kenneth Moales, Sr. was amongst that clergy fraternity.

And no matter who you were in the African-American community, over the past 50 years, you most likely knew these men or attended their services, had them counsel you, marry you, funeralize and elder or baptize your child.

Bishop Carr loved being a part of this great group of men. And, while some of the distinguished leaders have passed on years ago, Bishop Carr told family members often he would “live to be 100.” He would have been 94 this coming fall.

“He was such a hard worker and respected man,” the late Bishop Kenneth Moales, Sr. once told me. “He was like Job, who sanctified his children daily.”

It is also important to note that the post-Civil Rights Act of 1964, some African-Americans slowly started setting up their own business ventures.

Bishop Carr, a very ambitious man, immediately started his construction business, first in the south, then in the Bridgeport area with little fear or apology.

“He could build a house, church, or private business from the ground up and I watched him often come to someone’s house or my offices, analyze the issue and have the repair done in no time,” said businessman Richard Byrd. “He was also supervising everybody with such incredible leadership.”

Byrd also pointed out how many times you drive around Bridgeport and see his work.

“The very steps that take you into our funeral home are made from cement that Bishop Carr laid”, said a representative of the Morton’s Funeral home which handled funeral services for the family patriarch.

Bishop Carr inspired dozen of entrepreneurs, who worked under his tutelage or teaching and trained dozens and dozens of clergy leaders.

“My grandfather was a legend in Bridgeport and throughout Connecticut, having built or worked on hours of churches, houses, and real estate projects,” said his grandson and businessman Willie J. Carr, III, President of Exquisite Contractors, L.L.C.

Willie J. Carr, III, as a young lad started his career, like many of his uncles and cousins, as a child carrying a toolbox for Bishop Carr. The grandson’s construction company has since employed hundreds of workers.

“He was the first entrepreneur in our family at a time when Blacks faced tough issues in society and had to fight just to have a seat at the table as a businessman,” said Willie J. Carr, III. “He taught me how to do a job professionally and make a living to feed my family.”

Whether niece, nephew, cousin, or resident of Bridgeport, all had nothing but great things to say about the inspiration on their life.

“My grandfather exemplified greatness,” said Jeneen Selden of Virginia Beach, VA. “He was kind, loving, funny, faithful, and God-fearing.”

North Carolina Niece Sandra Adams wrote one of the dozens of tributes on Facebook, “we will never forget Uncle Willie James, he was a legend and his legacy will live on forever.”

Nephew Anthony Harrison recalled the direction and correction many got from Bishop Carr.

“Bishop Carr’s presence in my molding ground in the P.T. Barnum apartments gave me the presence to stand-up and hold my ground as one is challenged by his peers to see if there is a weakness to minimize your position in a cutthroat society,” Harrison recalled as a child growing up on the tough streets of Bridgeport in the 1970s. “My Uncle gave me the room to demonstrate my faith in my life and he confirmed that I had something that in his context of understanding was worth holding on to.”

And smiling as he thought of Bishop Carr, “We all know if Uncle James didn’t think you were hearing from God, without hesitation, he would tell you.”

Carshena Watkins, the oldest granddaughter in Virginia, recalled, “Granddad encouraged me to trust in the Lord, read the Bible daily and to love everyone and to pray every day.”

Said Sgt. Gary Hammill of the New Haven Police Department, who met Bishop Carr as a young child “I loved Mr. Carr like he was my grandfather…just a kind, generous and very wise man. He always made me feel like I was family.”

Bishop Carr trained seven sons, who are all master carpenters and several started their own businesses and worked all over the country doing window installation and carpentry. His son Timothy O’Neill Carr died about two months ago and would have been 64 this weekend. Bishop Carr also had five wonderful daughters. Of the 12 kids, 9 are still alive and doing well.

His son William A. Carr, Sr. was the first to start a window installation company based in New Jersey and employed hundreds of mechanics, carpenters, and workers in the 80s and 90s.

“My Dad was the best father a kid could have,” said Bishop Carr’s oldest son, Willie “June” Carr, Jr., who is based in Washington, D.C., and came home to Bridgeport to bury the family leader. “He taught us discipline, keep God in the plan and if you weren’t listening, he would tighten you up. Dad didn’t play”.

June Carr pointed out “he didn’t just help us, but he helped people all over the community and everywhere.”

And, many in the community from all over the country, who knew Bishop Carr sent their prayers and thoughts on what the tall, handsome statuesque man was like.

“I was a young Southern man when we met. And, my life was impacted by this great example of a powerful leader, preacher, husband, father, grandfather, and friend,” said Pastor C. Eric Susong of Mt. Calvary Holy Church of Salisbury, N.C. “The wisdom, knowledge, and love were imparted into so many and he left footprints in the lives of so many.”

Said Stamford based Davell L. “Daye-Daye” Adams who’s great-grandmother was Bishop Carr’s older sister Fannie Carr Adams, “I will never forget his love for God and his family and the fun stories.”

Bishop Willie James Carr was the beloved husband of the late Annie Marie Carr, who died in 1989, the mother of all 12 of his kids. He would marry two times after her death, but his heart always longed for his first love.

“I hope I can find Marie in heaven”, he recently told a family member before his recent death.

A lover of gospel music artists like Shirley Caesar, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, The Staples Singer, and the Williams Brothers, Bishop Carr would often be heard singing by anyone who came in contact with him. He also could beat all his grandchildren and friends in a good board game.

And, the games were more than just board games. He would give you life lessons throughout the game.

“As a friend, he loved to play scrabble and never backed down from winning and teaching you all the while playing,” Minister Agnes Partee-Brown of North Carolina shared, knowing him for over 50 plus years. She added, “He carefully listened to me and offered moral support when I needed it, but he was not afraid to state what was right in the eyes of God.”

Partee, was a member of a sister church in North Carolina, under Bishop Carr’s leadership, that regularly visited Connecticut for joint conferences and conventions.

“As my Bishop, he and his wife traveled to North Carolina, just to bless my house,” said Partee. “I was honored to know that they thought it necessary to travel so far to be a blessing to me and Bishop Carr was a leader in the church, not just by title, but how he lived his life.”

Added Pastor Inez Shields of the Faithful Few Church of Danbury. “Bishop Carr was a preacher, teacher, praiser, and a carpenter. He was a hard worker and exactly what God wants from His people,”

Bishop Carr often loved on Pastor Shields as a young child when she started preaching as a youth, telling her how great she was even as a teenager.

Shields called him “Bishop Carr”, but he was also affectionately called “Bruh James” or “Uncle James”.

Born in Greenville, North Carolina, Willie James Carr was the son of George and Lizzie Carr, who had eight kids in total.

“My Dad was a hard worker and could do incredible tricks with horses and farming”, Bishop Carr often fondly shared with his grandchildren. “And, my mom, Lizzie Carr, worked hard for a factory and I learned a lot from her.”

George and Lizzie Carr raised their kids with the help of George Carr’s mother Harriett Joiner Carr. She was a woman of African descent and believed to have come to North Carolina through the slave trade as she spoke the Gullah language, which was a culture rich in African-influences that makes them distinctive among African-Americans. These were slaves who maintained their culture in certain parts of the South.

Harriett Carr is also credited with the work ethic of the 11 children she bore to Richard “Dick” Carr, including Bishop Carr’s father George Carr. She is believed to have taught him how to handle animals.

“She could work those horses and had when her husband died, she petitioned the court and got over ninety acres of land before she died,” family historian Gary Best explained.

“She was only about 4 foot and so many inches tall, but she was a strong presence, smoked a corn pipe, carried a rifle and wasn’t afraid to stand her ground and do what she had to do in the 1800s” Best added. “She also had a scar on her face due to a slave master hitting her with an iron pitchfork in a dispute about meat early on in her life and it broke her jaw.”

Best said that the strong ancestor died in 1927, a year after her grandson Willie James Carr was born in 1926.

But, her son George Carr saw his Mom Harriett Carr’s determination and would give this work ethic to her grandson Bishop Carr who would use that same tenacity in his life.

After meeting his soon-to-be-wife then known as Annie McCray when he was 19 and she was 15, Willie James Carr would soon be married and they stayed happily married for over 40 years.

“Marie was my everything. I will never meet another like her,” Bishop Carr often said after he retired.

At a young age in life, they lived in Norfolk, Virginia for 16 years, where he worked as a master carpenter and brought their first home in the Lambert’s Point section of Norfolk near Old Dominion University. The couple would raise a dozen kids together.

“My Dad was just an incredible father,” said Bridgeport resident, Thelma Carr, the oldest living daughter. “He worked two jobs and we never were without food.”

Thelma Carr shared that her Dad and most of his kids relocated to Bridgeport somewhere around 1967 to find work.

Bishop Carr first worked for Remington Arms and the City of Bridgeport, where he would retire from in 1991, with a big bash at the Holiday Inn downtown attended by dozens.

While working for the city, he pastored numerous folks at the Mt. Calvary Deliverance Church off Stratford Avenue in Bridgeport. The church was affiliated with the National Tabernacle of Deliverance (NTOD) under the late Dr. Ardell Tucker and Rev. Dorothy O. Austin. It was where the gifted preacher was certified as a Bishop decades ago and presided as national bishop over several churches throughout the East Coast.

“Bishop Carr was the first Man of God I knew,” said Hartford resident Nathan Dixon, who grew up in the NTOD under Bishop Carr. “He taught me how to conduct myself as a man in God’s house and how a man must serve and praise God at a time when there weren’t many ‘true’ men of God to emulate.”

Pastor Robert L. Smith, IV, heads up the Mt. Calvary Deliverance Center Church now and was under Bishop Carr’s tutelage as a child and young leader.

“I speak for many when I gratefully speak of the times we traveled to 44 Sixth Street in Bridgeport, to gather for the Connecticut state conventions for the National Tabernacles of Deliverance,” said Pastor Smith, who’s church issued a full proclamation in honor of Bishop Carr to acknowledge the decades of service. “At his Bridgeport church and our headquarters in New Haven or anywhere, Bishop would pour into us, as the Lord would pour into him. Those days will ever be etched in our hearts.”

Said former Bridgeport Police Lieut. David Daniels, “Mr. Carr was the epitome of a gentleman, a family man, God-centered, hardworking and caring.”

“He was one of the best representations of black manhood or manhood period a young man could hope to model,” Daniels added.

Michelle Hepburn Crumbery recalled how he would encourage her to sing and be very kind to everyone saying, “He just loved children so much and would greet us with love every time with a very gentle heart.”

Added Mt. Calvary Deliverance Center former member Tonia Partee Buie, who grew up as a youth with him “ Bishop Carr was a man of few words, but he spoke volumes with the way he lived his life. In addition to leaving a rich legacy of love, commitment, and accomplishment for his remarkable natural descendants, he leaves a rich heritage of faith for his spiritual descendants.”

Buie wanted folks to know that “Bishop Carr taught us how to serve God humbly and because of Bishop Carr, we learned to remain composed under complicated circumstances and to serve in love, even when others were negative towards us.”

She emphasized “finally, we learned the concepts of character, not because Bishop Carr told us these things. We learned these concepts of character because Bishop Carr lived these things before us.”

Bishop Carr was buried on Bridgeport’s East Side at Lakeview Cemetery next to his wife of 43 years Annie Marie. He is survived by 9 children, 6 sons – Willie Carr Jr (Sharon) NY., George Carr Sr (Terrie) NJ., Joseph Carr Sr (Linda) CT., William A Carr (Leatha)MD., Benjamin Carr (Kathy) CT., Nathan Carr (Duchess)GA., and 3 daughters Thelma Carr, Delores Walker, and Angela Carr all of Bridgeport, CT. 26 Grandchildren, 58 great-grandchildren, 16 great, great-grandchildren, a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. He was predeceased by his wife, two daughters Annie Selden, Reginia Jones, one Son Timothy Carr, and one grandson Joel Carr.

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About the Writer. James L. Walker, Jr. is a former staff member of the CT Post who covered the city beat and other areas. He is also the grandson of Bishop Willie J. Carr, Sr. Walker resides in Atlanta now.