By By LYDIA GRIMES-Features writer
To some it might seem like a strange hobby, but it brings a lot of fun and people seem to enjoy it.
Greg Carter took up playing the spoons a few years ago and he fits it into the music he plays with his guitar.
And Carter comes from a long line of people who know rhythm and music. His mother is part of the Golden family that has produced so many who are musically-talented, including William Lee Golden of the Oak Ridge Boys. Music has been a part of his whole life and a few years ago he got more involved than ever before.
Carter married Rhonda Bell in 1988 and her father, Buddy, got him interested in playing music. He joined Bell's group, Silver Eagle, as a drummer. They were not big time but they did play at church functions, fundraisers and other functions. Although Carter had played the trumpet in high school, it seems that his musical talent allowed him to play several instruments, including the guitar, which is his major instrument at the present time.
He and his wife join with Dr. Warren Ringsdorf to sing and play for events around the area performing blues and focusing on the Eagles' work. One of their recent outings had them playing an outdoor concert at Book &Bean in downtown Brewton.
Carter was born in Brewton in 1960 to Ollie and Nell Carter His parents were both graduates of Jay High School and it was inevitable that he would end up in banking. His mother worked at the Bank of Brewton and his father at the Bank of Jay. His father later came to Brewton and joined the Citizens, Farmers and Merchants Bank. The bank later became First National Bank and then BankTrust. His mother also went to work at First National Bank.
Carter came from a small family and only had one sister, Petrina. He attended school in the Brewton City School System and graduated from T.R. Miller High School in 1978.
After he graduated from high school he attended Jefferson Davis Junior College for a while and worked at I.G.A. Grocery Store. He then worked at Georgia Pacific in Monroeville for a short period of time before going back to I.G.A. After working there for a while he went to work Sunbeam with Frank Chavers where he drove a bread truck. He delivered bread to various grocery stores and convenience stores in the area.
He worked in several departments over the next 11 and one half years and wound up in the loan department. During this time he graduated from the Alabama Banking School at the University of South Alabama in Mobile and continued his education with the American Institute of Banking.
It was about that time that Mr. Sam Kelly contacted him to see if he wanted to be part of the new Union Bank branch that was coming to town. The bank, headquartered in Evergreen, set up on the present site of Colonial Bank on Douglas Avenue in a mobile banking facility.
Carter accepted the offer and came to the new bank as a vice president.
Colonial Bank acquired Union Bank in 1995 and he stayed on.
Today he is the city-county president of Colonial Bank and seems to have thrived on the banking business.
When he is not busy with his music or work, he says he loves to fish.