Gordon Lyndal “Motor” Carr died Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, at his home. He was 86. 

He was born May 23, 1923, to George Robert and Leonea Tynes Carr in Jayess, Miss. Gordon, known as Motor, grew up in Monticello and was educated in the local schools, where he participated in basketball and football. He attended Hinds Junior College 1941-1943 and lettered two years in basketball and one year in football and ran track. He was named to the 1991 Hinds Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1943, he entered the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 41st Infantry Division, the Jungleers, G Company and later Cannon Company. He was part of five successful beachhead invasions, at Mindanao, Jolo, Tawi Tawi, Zamboaga and New Guinea. The 41st Division suffered a 50 percent casualty rate. His was one of the first forces to occupy Japan. He served 33 months in the Pacific and was discharged as a sergeant. He played basketball on a team that won the Japanese Occupation Championship.

In 1949, he received his Bachelor of Science degree from Millsaps College, where he was a member of the “M” Club, president of the student executive board, member of Kappa Sigma social fraternity, and “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.” He was inducted into the Millsaps Sports Hall of Fame in 1977. He continued his education at Ole Miss and received a master’s degree in school administration in 1953.

Motor taught math and coached basketball in Brookhaven for three years. He went on to Holmes Junior College for four years and won the State Junior College basketball championship in 1956.

For 52 years, he was a resident of Vicksburg, where he spent 15 years as a Bantam League Baseball Commissioner, nine years in the Indian Guides, a YMCA father’s organization, and officiated everything from high school and junior college basketball to church and Y league basketball and baseball.

As a civil engineering technician at Waterways Experiment Station, he specialized in research and development of airplane landing mats. Over the 35 years at WES he was officially commended by the Department of Army and received numerous commendations and awards for performance.

Since his retirement, he served 11 years as election commissioner for the Warren County Fifth District. He was a member of the VFW and the Metropolitan Dinner and Dance Club of Jackson. He was an active member of First Presbyterian Church serving as an elder and deacon.

He was preceded in death by his parents; one son, Williams Ford Carr; and two brothers, George Robert Carr Jr., and Warren Ford Carr of Monticello.

Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Elizabeth Ann Williams Carr; two sons, Gordon Lyndal Carr Jr., and wife, Rainy, of Tupelo and Robert Eric Carr and wife Terri, of Fort Mill, S.C.; grandchildren Matthew Tracy Carr (Mary), of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., Bonnie Lyndal Carr Mize (Paul), of Tupelo, Lacy Elizabeth Carr, of Denver, Colo., Eric Alexander Carr and Corry Renee Carr of Fort Mill, S.C.; one great-grandson, Jack Morton Carr, of Santa Rosa Beach; one sister, Tynes Carr Boone of Jackson; one niece, Peggy Boone Peterson of Jackson; two nephews, Gordon Robert Carr III of Jackson and Joseph Tynes Carr of Yazoo City.

Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg, 1501 Cherry St., Vicksburg, MS 39180 or to Jacob’s Ladder Learning Center, 1017 Harrison St., Vicksburg, MS 39180 or to a favorite charity.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Tim Brown, pastor, officiating. Visitation will be at First Presbyterian Church Ward Hall Saturday from 9 a.m. until the service.  Burial will be at 2:30 p.m. at the Masonic Cemetery in Monticello with Riles Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

Pallbearers will be Matthew Tracy Carr, Eric Alexander Carr, George Robert Carr III, Joseph Tynes Carr Sr., Bruce Peterson and D. Eric Williams Jr. 

Honorary pallbearers will be George Cronia, Hugh Green, Bobby Bailess, Don Day, Fred Bayley, Bill Fenwick, David Speyerer, Gene Allen, Ken Halford, Moody Culpepper and Easy Biedenharn.