Christine Pettee Carlton

Born on November 1, 1946 on Sopporro, Japan, Chris built a life marked by determination, skill, and wide-ranging interests. She survived polio at age 2 and lived with its aftermath throughout her life, never allowing it to limit how fully she engaged with the world around her. Her physician of 30 years described her as “a dynamo,” a word that suited the many pursuits and commitments that shaped her life.

Chris attended high school at St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines in Asheville, where she served as Student Body President of her senior class. She later graduated with her B.S. in Zoology from UNC Chapel Hill in 1968, obtained a Medical Assistant Certificate, and began her career in medical laboratories. Her work took her to labs in Chapel Hill, Valdosta, Georgia, Dayton, Ohio, and Raleigh. Around 1974, she joined the lab at Rex Hospital, where she worked for 30 years, apart from a two-year period with Management Systems Associates developing the first online computers. She then returned to Rex, moving to the Billing Department, where she remained until her retirement in 2003.

Chris attended St. Michael’s Episcopal Church for more than 40 years and remembered it fondly as her spiritual home and family.

She was an accomplished seamstress, gardener, and active book and garden club participant who also enjoyed tennis, tinkering with electronics, and building things. For many years, she hosted an annual chili party for the whole neighborhood. In her retirement, she enjoyed marathons of old crime TV shows, spending time with her four grandchildren, and listening to music, especially private concerts at home with her brother, Charles.

Chris is remembered by her daughter, Mary Beth Carlton; her son, Troy Carlton; her grandchildren, Katherine, Emma, and May Wright, and Dawson Carlton; her brother, Charles Pettee, his wife, Susan Girdler, and their sons, Jackson Pettee and Noah Pettee; brothers-in-law Bob Fiebach and Tim McAdams; sister-in-law Betsy Fiebach; son-in-law Jonathan Wright; nephews Michael Fiebach, Chase Morrow, Chris Morrow, and John Robin McAdams; and nieces Paige Morrow, Emma Fiebach, and Julia McAdams.

She was predeceased by her parents, Jack Charles Pettee and Patricia Needham Pettee; parents-in-law Alfred P. Carlton, Sr. and Katherine Singleton Carlton; her sister, Lyn Morrow; her sister-in-law, Kathy McAdams; and her nephew, Robb Morrow Jr.

A celebration of Chris’ life will be held at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on December 11, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., with a reception for known family and friends to follow.