Hamilton physician was ‘one of the good ones’

“It’s the right place,” said Katherine Christen, one of Dr. Carr’s three children.

Dr. Carr, 89, died May 28 in his hometown of Hamilton. A mass of Christian Burial for close friends and family will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Peter in Chains Church, 451 Ridgelawn Ave., and a memorial ceremony will follow at 4 p.m. Monday at Hamilton High School Auditorium.

Dr. Carr’s wife, Anne, died eight years ago, and like her husband, she always put others before herself, her daughter said.

“We hit the parental lottery,” she said.

Christen said what she’ll miss most about her father is his “unconditional love, witty, dry sense of humor and that smile.”

She said her father taught her and her two siblings, James Carr of West Hartford, Connecticut, and David Carr of Fairfield, to always give back to the community, especially those less fortunate.

“He was such a supporter and fighter for the underdog,” she said. “He was one of the good ones. He believed in the community.”

Christen, an English teacher for 27 years in the Hamilton district, said while it’s improper English, her father’s motto: “Do good and disappear.”

There’s no disputing the good that Dr. Carr did in the Hamilton community.

He practiced urology medicine for 36 years, the first six in Cincinnati and the last 30 in Hamilton. In the 1970s, he served as president of the Butler County Medical Society and was chief of staff at Fort Hamilton Hospital.

In 1972 he received the “Service Above Self” award from the Hamilton Rotary Club for his leadership in the Butler County tuberculosis program. He was heavily involved with the Hamilton Boys & Girls Club, where he spent several years as its president. He was a member of the Board of the Hamilton YMCA and was a division chairman of United Way of Hamilton.

Upon his retirement in 1997, he spent several days per week reading to children at Harrison Elementary School. In 1999 he was inducted into the Junior Achievement of Greater Butler County Hall of Fame. He was named the 1997 Ohio Outstanding Team Physician of the Year by the Ohio State Medical Association. He established the Hamilton High School Athletic Foundation to benefit programs and improve facilities.

“He didn’t want to be recognized,” his daughter said. “He just wanted to do for others. He was a doctor who was really in it for the right reasons.”