Stuart Scott Carter

Stuart (“Stu”) Scott Carter Lt Col, USAF (Ret)

July 17, 1952 – November 5, 2025

Stu Carter was born in Chicago on July 17, 1952, to Arthur and Joan Carter.  Post high school, he enlisted in the US Air Force in which he served from January 1971 to February 2001 including 16 years of overseas assignments to England, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.  Lt Col Carter was a Vietnam Era veteran and a combat veteran of Gulf War operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield.

The first five years of Stu’s 30-year military career were as an enlisted airman rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant. While remaining on active duty in a commissioning program, he attended the University of California, Berkley earning a BA in Computer Science. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant in March 1980, he was assigned to the Pentagon for a four-year position as a Computer Systems Acquisition Officer. He was a pioneer in Air Force information technology and commanded several data and communications units stateside and overseas.  He is a graduate of the USAF Air Command and Staff College and holds a MS Degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle University.

After retirement from active duty, Stu served as a civil servant for the Air Force in Cairo, Egypt for four years followed by assignments for the Army at Fort Huachuca, finally retiring in 2015 from civil service as Director, Strategic Initiatives Group and Congressional Affairs for NETCOM.  His second retirement marked 45 years of combined military and federal civil service.

After his arrival in SV in July of 2006 as civilian employee at Fort Huachuca, Stu began a supplemental career of volunteer service to our community at large but concentrating on veterans causes. He has been President of the local Air Force Association Cochise Chapter 107 for multiple terms achieving the Association’s Exceptional Service Award in 2017. He led the Chapter to selection as “Best Small Chapter” for extraordinary fundraising, outstanding support of the Air Force’s nationwide Cyber Patriot Program and deep commitment to STEM education of local school children. He has served as Chairman of the Greater Sierra Vista United Veterans Council, Co-Chairman of the Fort Huachuca Retiree Council, Vice President of the Sierra Vista Veterans Memorial Improvement Foundation, Vice President of the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery Foundation, Director of the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association, member of the Sierra Vista Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee, and Veteran Advisory Councils of Congressional Representatives Ron Barber, Martha McSally and Ann Kirkpatrick. He currently serves on the Board of the Warrior Healing Center.  He’s been Vice President of VICAP (Volunteer Interfaith Caregiver Program), advisor to NAMI SEAZ (National Alliance for Mental Illness, Southeastern AZ) in establishment of the annual Sky Island Tour Bicycling event and worked tirelessly as President of Cochise Bicycle Advocates. He was instrumental in bringing the annual El Tour de Zona three day cycling event which annually draws hundreds of participants from all over the nation to Sierra Vista.  The El Tour de Zona has proven very successful and is rated one of the finest bicycling events in the state.

Stu was always a fiercely competitive athlete. When stationed in the Netherlands in 1988, he suffered a severe knee injury while playing football and turned to cycling for rehabilitation.  In his characteristic laser-focused, resolute way, Stu committed himself to excelling at the sport, and of course he succeeded spectacularly, becoming the U. S. National Military Time Trial Champion in 1992.  In 1995, Stu founded the USAF Cycling Team, served as Executive Director until 2002 and remains Director Emeritus. He is recognized by team members as “The Father of Air Force Cycling”.  For 16 consecutive years, Stu rode with his team in RAGBRAI (Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), a 450+ bike ride held in mid-summer that attracts 20,000 participants.  The Air Force Cycling Team, now several hundred strong are known as “The Guardian Angels of the Road” due to their legendary assistance to distressed riders in RAGBRAI and other cycling venues.

Stu combined his love of cycling with his desire to help fellow veterans by founding VeloVets Sierra Vista (VVSV), (a 501(c)3 non-profit VSO, in 2016.  The mission of VVSV is to assist disabled veterans in becoming physically active in bicycling, which offers them benefits of physical conditioning, goal-driven mental stimulation and camaraderie with their fellow veterans.  From a humble beginning assisting two veteran friends, VVSV has grown to 119 members, 47 of which are 100% disability rated by the Veterans Administration.  VeloVets holds group rides twice weekly, and they have become a familiar sight as they cruise through Sierra Vista in their colorful VeloVets gear—always helmeted, with flags flying and wide smiles on their faces!

Awards and accolades for Stu include AUSA (Association of the US Army) Region 7 Department of the Army Civilian of the Year 2014, Air Force Association Medal of Merit for Leadership 2016, Canyon Vista Medical Center Veterans Wall 2017, AZ Congressional District 2 Veteran of Distinction 2017, Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame inductee 2018, AZ Congressional District 6 Veteran Servant Leader Award 2024.

On Wednesday, November 5, Stu tragically passed away due to cardiac arrest while doing what he truly loved---riding a bicycle with his beloved fellow VeloVets.  He is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Anne Carter and daughter Stacey Carter to whom Stu was an adoring and devoted father. He leaves behind his cherished mini-Schnauzers Misty and Luna and legions of friends, fellow cyclists, former coworkers, VeloVets members and supporters, and countless others who loved and admired him.

Stu Carter could well have been the inspiration for the motto of the Military Officers’ Association of America (MOAA) of which he was a lifetime member:  NEVER STOP SERVING!”

A funeral service for Stu will be held at the First Church of the Nazarene, 1215 El Camino Real (corner of El Camino Real and Foothills Dr) Sierra Vista on Monday, November 17 at 10:00AM.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Stu’s memory to VeloVets Sierra Vista through the website at velovetssierravistaaz.org or the VeloVets Sierra Vista Facebook page.

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