Cover photo for Clayton Carr's Obituary
Clayton Carr Profile Photo
1924 Clayton 2014

Clayton Carr

June 21, 1924 — January 28, 2014

June 21, 1924, Clayton Carr was born to Ado and Hattie Magee Carr on the 55---acre farm they owned in Tylertown, Mississippi. He was raised there with seven brothers and five sisters. At age 17, he served in the CC Camps under Pres. Roosevelt. It was 1943, during World War II, when he was drafted into the United States Army. He served for three years with the Army Air Forces and was promoted to sergeant before being honorably discharged. While stationed in Yuma, Arizona, he heard the gospel preached at Pentecostal Temple Church of the Mountain States Council. It was there, under the pastorate of the late Bishop AC Eddings that he was baptized in the magnificent name of Jesus on October 15, 1944. Seven days later, he received the gift of the Holy Ghost! On September 26, 1945 he married the beautiful, intelligent and virtuous Carmi Pettiford in Yuma, Arizona, just one day after meeting her in person for the first time. They had become pen---pals and fallen in love through exchanging heart---felt, hand---written letters. As the story goes, the only reason they did not get married the very day they met in person is because they could not get a license from the city as business had closed for the day. In 1946, Clayton moved to Albuquerque and joined God’s House, the church founded by the parents of his new bride, the late Bishop Otho and Mother Odell Greer Pettiford. Bishop Pettiford became his mentor. It was there, under Bishop’s tutelage that Clayton studied the ministry and the trade of building construction for ten years. While working in construction in 1949, Clayton heard the call of God in an audible voice, giving him a charge to build people: “The people in El Paso need you.” Elder Carr gathered the courage, his wife, and his three daughters, Pauline, Shirley, and Adele and moved to El Paso in 1956. First, he started worship services in the garage of the late Mother Lucy Wallace. Then, he began building Bethlehem Temple Church with his own hands in 1957 at 4131 E. Yandell. Elder Carr worked as a leader in the Mountain States Council for nearly 70 years in various capacities, beginning as Chairman of the Pentecostal Young People’s Union and eventually becoming a Senior District Elder. He was God’s servant, a faithful husband to one wife for over 68 years, a father, the founding pastor of Bethlehem Temple, and a spiritual father to the many lives touched by the church he built with God’s call and his own hands. On Tuesday January 28, 2014, the Honorable Elder Clayton Carr received his highly anticipated elevation from labor to reward and passed from this life to the next while surrounded by family. He was preceded in death by his parents, his 7 brothers: Fedro Carr (Barbara), JC Carr aka Uncle Bill (Willie B), Percy Carr (Martha), Alcus Carr (Fannie), Worthy Carr (Melvina), Albert Carr (Almeda), and Clinton Carr(Joyce); sisters: Rosabell (Curtis) Payton, Anna (Roosevelt Major) (Walt McCullum), Ellah (Otis) McGee, Ordeaner (CJ) McKelpin, and Willa Mae (JC McGee) (Edro Brock) Brock.
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Visitation

Monday, February 3, 2014

10:00 - 11:00 am

Destiny Family Christian Center

9615 Dyer Street, El Paso, TX 79924

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Celebration of Life

Monday, February 3, 2014

11:00am - 1:00 pm

Destiny Family Christian Center

9615 Dyer Street, El Paso, TX 79924

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