Marion Locke-Paddon Carter

It is with deep sorrow that our family announces the death of our beloved Marion Carter, who passed away late Saturday afternoon from complications due to advanced glioblastoma. Marion Locke-Paddon Carter was born to William and Gussie Locke-Paddon on February 16, 1944, in Watsonville, California, a small Central Coast agricultural town located on Monterey Bay. She was the second of four children and the only girl. Her father William was a real estate developer and founded the town of Marina just south of Watsonville; Gussie devoted most of her time to taking care of her home and family. Marion grew up living on her family’s rural property just outside of Watsonville with her parents and her brothers. Marion attended Watsonville High School, graduating in 1961, and then Mills College in Oakland, California, from which she graduated in 1965. She later moved to Washington, D.C., earned a master’s degree from Catholic University, and found work as a librarian at George Washington University. During her time in Washington, Marion met Robert Andrew “Andy” Carter, beginning a relationship that would endure for the rest of her life. She and Robert married on June 20, 1974, in Washington, D.C. Soon after marrying, Marion and Robert moved to Astoria, Oregon, where they lived for about two years before returning to Marion’s hometown of Watsonville to build a home and start a family. After returning to California, Marion had one son, Jack, and lived with her family in the community of Corralitos near Watsonville. She spent time taking care of her young family and working as a bookkeeper for the Locke-Paddon family business. In 1990, Marion relocated with her family to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she worked for several years keeping medical records. She and Robert purchased a historic home near Farmville, Virginia and left Charlottesville to move there in early 2001, where they spent much time planning and making additions and improvements to the original house. Marion was a devoted wife and mother, and later a grandmother to three girls, Clara, Aubrie and Catherine. She loved spending time with her grandchildren, taking them out to eat and shop, trying on clothes, and attending their dance and choir performances. She had a beautiful singing voice and was active in choirs both during earlier years in California and her time in Farmville, where she sang with the Commonwealth Chorale of Virginia. Marion is survived by her husband Robert of Farmville, Virginia; her son Jack and daughter-in-law Melissa, and their daughters Clara, Aubrie and Catherine of Amherst, Virginia; her brother Kenneth Locke-Paddon and sister-in-law Theresa of Watsonville, California; her brother George Locke-Paddon of Watsonville, California; and her sister-in-law Terry Locke-Paddon of Aptos, California. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother William “Bill” Francis Locke-Paddon, of Aptos, California.