By Cindy Ryherd
Having the joy of watching two baptisms in February, I noticed a plaque on the baptismal font, which raised my curiosity about the history of the font. Feeling the importance of remembering and honoring our church history and the many individuals that helped to create it, here is what I found.
The plaque reads:
Baptismal Font
In memory of Winthrop Lakey Carter (1885-1944)
Treasurer of the Hollis Church Building Fund 1925
Winthrop Lakey Carter was the owner of the Nashua Corporation, and Treasurer of the Building Committee for the Community Church in Hollis in 1924 after the church burned down.
He came to Nashua in 1907 after graduation from Yale University to work for the Nashua Gummed & Coated Paper Company which was apparently owned by his father. He became president of that organization in 1923 after his father’s death.
He loved collecting antiques and stamps and also enjoyed hunting, fishing and bridge. A fund was established in his and his wife’s name, i.e., Winthrop L. Carter Memorial Fund, to support charitable organizations in the Piscataqua Region and to the greater Portsmouth area and the State of NH. Another fund, the Winthrop Carter Fund was established by Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop L. Carter to recognize the importance of The Art Gallery at UNH and the major role it plays in exhibits for the University community. The fund supports the Gallery’s programs, most specifically the completion of the Art in New Hampshire exhibition project.
Winthrop and his wife, Elizabeth Conant Barton Carter, and their two children, Barton and Winthrop, Jr., lived on Pepperell Road. He purchased hundreds of acres of land on Pepperell and N Pepperell Road. He ran a gentleman’s farm at residence at 51 Pepperell Road. He purchased this home in 1925, and several other homes that were on the land.
Winthrop along with his wife and children are buried in the family plot in South Cemetery of Hollis. Reference https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75142417/winthrop-lakey-carter