Peter "Pip" Carter
The following information has been kindly provided by Pip’s wife Diane ‘Dee’ Carter who met and married Pip while both were working here in Bermuda. They clearly had a long and happy life together and we were delighted to hear from Dee.
"Peter “Pip” Carter was born on June 3 1929 in Altrincham, Cheshire, England and raised there. When he was 5 years old he was sent to boarding school at "Ellesmere" which I believe is on the Welsh border, after which he did his National service in the Army in Cyprus.
He did his National Service in Military Police, and was posted to Ceylon during that time. After his time in the Army he returned to England and worked in his father's home-decorating business along with his only sibling, his brother John, who continued to run the family business for many years.
I don't know when the "Travel Bug" bit him, but Pip applied for training in the Police Force and trained in England after which he was sent to Bermuda. He met Jimmy Moir on the same plane on the way over, and they became good friends. They arrived in Bermuda on 21st September 1956, along with Mike Kelly.
(When asked about how Dee came to be in Bermuda she described how she had been attending college in the U.S. (she is American), and had a longing to travel so she was working a summer job in Banff, Alberta, for Canadian Pacific Railway Company. While there she was recommended for a job in Bermuda at The Castle Harbour Hotel which she accepted.)
I had been working at Castle Harbour for just over a year when Pip and I met at a social event. This was in late 1956 or early 1957.
My roommate while I was at Castle Harbour was a girl named Joyce who married Jack Dodge from ZBM. While we were still single she and I and Pip would sometimes go late night fishing at Flatts Village off a flat rock next to the flamingo enclosure, One night we caught an electric eel which really scared us – that is Joyce and me.
I used to ride my Mobylette to St. George's every weekend to pick up fresh mackerel from a local fisherman who at the end of the day, after taking tourists out fishing using mackerel as bait, would kindly gave away what was left.
In early 1958 my mother came to Bermuda to check Pip out and look him over! I have to say my mother was very impressed with him. First meetings are so important! He was the first Englishman she ever met. I thought she was going to keep him for herself! Joyce and I used to laugh at them talking – my mother with her Southern drawl and Pip with his very English accent. Joyce said, 'Just listen to them. Neither can understand what the other is saying!'
I have fond memories of Joyce. We were pregnant together or, as we used to say, “we threw up together”! She had worked as a social hostess at Castle Harbour and then became a flight attendant on Bermuda’s one and only airline, which I seem to recall only lasted for about a year.
In October 1958, Pip and I left Bermuda for the U.S. and were married after Christmas, then left for “jolly-olde” England where we stayed for 3 months. After my contract ended at Castle Harbour I had starting working at the Bermuda Telephone Company and left there to get married, but when we returned from England I got my job back at the Telephone Company.
Pip had signed up for another stint in Bermuda, and we caught a boat. I got off in New York while Pip went ahead to find us a place to live, in the Darrell's Wharf area on Harbour Road. I went to Alabama where my family was living at the time, then joined Pip at our new home."
Dee doesn’t recall much about Pip’s sporting activities prior to him coming to Bermuda but she knows that he was a rugby player who played for and was Captain of the Bermuda Barbarians.
John McCulloch has written to us to say that he remembers Pip very well for several reasons, including his handlebar moustache; his involvement with the Bermuda Barbarians together with two of John’s old Somerset mates, Harry Leman and Graham Holmes, with the latter being an outstanding player having had a trial for Scotland for the “Possibles v The Probables. John also vividly remembers Pip for one other attribute, “He could drink a glass of beer without swallowing – he just poured it down! At the Police Club people would buy his beer just so they could watch him!”
We don't have a photograph of Pip downing a beer without gulping but after reminding Dee of her husband's unusual skill she remembered still having this quart glass that he won by downing its contents in one swallow!
Pip's prized quart glass
Arthur Rose remembers Pip as a great character and an outstanding rugby player who also knew how to party. Arthur confirms Pip’s unusual ability to down a pint of beer without taking a gulp. (CLICK HERE for Arthur Rose’s ‘Then and Now’ article).
We also spoke with Mike Kelly who came out to Bermuda with Pip and Jimmy Moir. Mike played in the same rugby team as Pip which was known as the "Barbarians" Rugby Football Club which later became the Police Rugby Club. CLICK HERE for comments from Mike Kelly published on 20th January 2014 in our "Keeping in Touch" column.
Another former Bermuda police officer, Brian Jones, attests to Pip's all-round sporting ability and says he was also an excellent snooker player.
Dee kindly provided us with this copy of Pip’s membership card for the Bermuda “Barbarians” Rugby Football Club for the 1956-57 season and signed by a fellow policeman, J. “Taffy” Lewis.
"Pip and I had three sons—Peter (now 53) was born in Bermuda, Mark (52) and David (50) were born in the U.S. I can still recall the time when I had just come out of hospital after Peter was born, and Pip was on duty driving with Mike Kelly who insisted that they stop to buy me a milk shake!
We left Bermuda in 1963 and came here to Houston where things were booming. Pip met a (father figure) fellow Brit in the steam-ship business. He was hired as a steamship agent and quickly rose to be a vice-president of the company which had main offices in Houston and in New Orleans where we lived for two years. The company also owned Texas Stevedores and Pip rose to be President of that company before forming his own Steamship Agency at the age of 60.
He had a very interesting job, travelling to Africa, Germany, Brazil and Japan as well as the west coast of the U.S. He boarded ships, met and entertained the captains from various countries. It was a hard “life” to give up but his health, unfortunately, was slowing him down and he sold his company and retired at the age of 72.
Sadly, Pip died on July14, 2003.
I’m very fortunate to have a wonderful family including two lovely daughters-in-law (I always wanted a daughter), and three beautiful grandchildren whom I adore, Peter's son Sean (20), Mark's son Cole (17) , and our beautiful Grace (13), Mark's daughter, the first girl in the family.
