Mason Alfred Carter, 92, of Dallas, TX, husband of Lorena Ball, passed away Sep. 10, 2012.

Born Apr 10, 1920 in Webbers Falls, OK on the west bank of the Arkansas River, into a family that would ultimately include a total of 12 children, to William Henry and Gladiola Powell Carter. Mason was a respected and much liked resident of Highland Springs Independent Living Center in Plano, TX.

His smile and ready wit will be missed by residents and staff alike. Mason attended the Chillicothe (MO) Business College (by the late 1930's, the largest business college in America) before enlisting in the US Army for combat service in WWII.

The years from 1942 through war's end in 1945 had him in action throughout Europe with the 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion, encompassing campaigns from Central France into Germany and Czechoslovakia. It was during this time he sustained an injury that would trouble him with life-long back pain.

On Oct 3, 1942, he married his high school sweetheart and except for the war years, never left her side for the next 70 years.

Upon his discharge from the Army, he returned to his employment with the IRS in OK. Climbing through the ranks, he pursued a 32-year career before retiring as a Collections Chief. He and Lorena then embarked on a lengthy period of retirement adventures taking them from spending time in an Airstream-RV visiting almost every state in the lower-48, Mexico and Canada, living in the Airstream while working as relief-managers for Stuckey's roadside stops throughout the Midwest and South, to enjoying square dancing for many years while living in Oklahoma City, McAllen and San Antonio, TX, Colorado Springs and Denver, CO.

Mason and Lorena were long-term residents of OK, raising three boys to each graduate college before pursing successful careers. Mason is survived by his wife, Lorena and their three sons: Garland and daughter-in-law Peggy , Steven and daughter-in-law Nicki, and Dennis and daughter-in-law Janet, and six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.