A Lifetime of Faith, Service & Global Impact

Carter Davis and his younger brother Stanley arrived at Harrison Chilhowee Baptist Academy in 1957. Both were outstanding students and were active in numerous co-curricular activities. Carter played football and basketball, was senior class president, and was named “Mr. Chilhowee,” graduating in 1959. Stanley served as a class officer, was named All-Conference in football, and also played basketball. He graduated in 1961.

Both young men met and married their high school sweethearts. Carter married Charlotte Rebecca Jones in 1962. They have two adult daughters, Tamra King and Natalie Summers. Stanley married Margaret Ballard.

Carter graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry in 1964. He then served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Dental Corps from 1966 to 1968. He was named Second District of Tennessee Dentist of the Year in 1975. Between 1975 and 1976, he provided free dental care for Zion Children’s Home in Knoxville.

In 1976, the Davises were appointed by the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention to serve as missionaries in Grenada, West Indies. In addition to the dental ministry they maintained, Carter and Charlotte started two churches during their period of service.

In 1981–1982, they returned to Knoxville when Dr. Davis received a Fellowship at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

He returned to Grenada as an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at St. George’s Hospital from 1983–1997. During this time, he was ordained to the Gospel Ministry (1990). In 1997, he was named to the IMB Caribbean Basin Regional Leadership Team and subsequently to the Middle America and Caribbean Regional Leadership Team.

The Davises retired from the SBC International Mission Board in February 2008. At various times during his career, Dr. Davis provided voluntary dental care for patients in ten countries located on five continents of the world.

Even in retirement, he served as the lead director of the International Mission Board’s relief efforts in 2010 and 2011 following the earthquake in Haiti. In 2015, he was invited as a Guest Lecturer to the University of Sumatera Utara College of Dentistry in Indonesia.

Closer to home, in 2013, Home Federal Bank named Dr. Davis a Hometown Hero of the Week in honor of his service. For eleven years (2008–2018), he provided volunteer dental care on a weekly basis for Volunteer Ministry Center in Knoxville.

His contributions to his alma mater are numerous:

• Member, Board of Trustees; Chair, 1975–1976
• Alumni Association President, 2010
• Named with Charlotte as Outstanding Alumni of 2011
• Member, Board of Trustees, 2010–2018, 2020–present; Chair, 2013–2018

He continues to lead adult Bible study at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville, where he also serves as an ordained deacon.