Daniel S. McCarter

SCOTTSDALE – Daniel Searcy McCarter, 89, of Scottsdale, AZ passed away on October 28, 2018. Dan was born on December 22, 1928 in Harrisburg, PA to Ora Searcy McCarter and Arthur Barrett McCarter. He was raised in Camp Hill, PA with summers at the family farm in York Springs, and graduated high school in 1946 after playing football, basketball and baseball. He attended Gettysburg College for one year where he wrestled. He was recruited to transfer to Johns Hopkins University by alumni of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity to re-establish the defunct chapter at JHU. He was graduated from JHU in 1951 with a B.A. in Drama intending to teach college. After graduating, Dan did technical work at the Hilltop Theatre in Baltimore, MD until drafted by the Army for the Korean War. Dan attended Engineering O.C.S., was commissioned, and served in a backup map writing unit in Texas until discharge. Dan worked theatre jobs in Maryland at Erie Playhouse and was Designer of the Allenberry Theatre in Boiling Springs, PA. Dan earned an MFA in Drama from Catholic University in 1960. During a theatre job at The Lost Colony in North Carolina in the summer of 1955, Dan met and married Valerie Gwozdecki. Dan taught speech and theatre at Southwest Missouri State College in Springfield, MO, at Joliet (IL) Junior College and at The College of St. Francis. In 1985, Dan and Val returned to the Outer Banks, where they had met and married, where Dan opened a gift shop and post office called The Duck Duck Shop, which he operated for 19 years. Dan and Val retired to Scottsdale, AZ in 2005.

Dan served as a Deacon, Elder and Youth Director at First Presbyterian Church in Joliet, IL. Dan is survived by his wife Valerie; children Elizabeth (Keith) Overholt of Paradise Valley, AZ, Victoria (Wendy) of Bothell, WA, Peter (Sherry) of Palm Bay, FL, Craig (Kristen) of Catonsville, MD; grandchildren Katherine (NJ), Emily, Evan, Finn, Owen, Taylor and Samantha; and his beloved nieces and nephews. A memorial service to celebrate Dan’s life, on what would have been his 90th birthday, is planned for 4:00 p.m. on December 22nd at Ascension Lutheran Church, 7100 N. Mockingbird Lane, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253. Now, dim the lights and draw the curtain on Dan’s best-directed play, his own life well-lived.