Obituary for Louis Henry Carr

Louis H. Carr, 73, of Cedar Rapids, passed away Friday, January 8, 2010 at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy, Hiawatha. A memorial service with military honors will be held at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at the VFW Post No. 788 located at 3240 Southgate Place SW. Survivors include his wife Judy; children Renee, LuAnn, and Louie Jr. Carr, Chris, Barbie, Scott, and Randy; twelve grandchildren; eight great grandchildren; one brother Jonny (Carlotta) Carr; and two sisters Alice Lancaster and Bobby Turner. He was preceded in death by his parents Louis Jr. and Deloris Carr and his son Jonathan "Toby" Carr. Louie Carr was born in Alamogordo New Mexico in 1936. He was raised on a logging camp 26 miles to the nearest schoolhouse. In 1950 at the age of 14 Louie moved to Brevard, North Carolina where he worked in his Grandfathers wood mill. He then joined the Army in 1953 and while stationed in Missouri and confined to barracks, he picked up a soldier''s guitar and this is where it all began. After the service Louis took a job as a service technician for a gas company, it was 1957. He then started playing at the Ozark Oprey in his free time. He Joined Del Mack & the Vagabonds band touring on the East Coast. In 1958 Louis moved to Detroit. He joined the Raging Storms and toured in various locations all over the country. He played in Green Bay, WI where he opened the show for Buddy Holly and the crickets, the Big Bopper and Richie Valence. It was after this show that Holly and the Bopper traveled to Clear Lake. This of course, would be there last. He played Bourbon Street back to back with Deon and the Belmonts. In 1959, Louis joined Johnny and the Hurricanes. He recorded with the band in Betroit and New York City. He also did session work with Belt Shannon. In 1962 he moved to Cedar Rapids where he formed his own band "Louis and High Lads". He played at several clubs including, The 100 club, Green Diamond lounge and Farrahs lounge. This is where Luis took his band from a three-piece to a five-piece band. He also taught at Keeney''s and went on to teach at Boddicker''s music stores for 7 years. During this period he taught some of the best in the area to this day including, Dennis McMurrin, Billy Janey and Ron DeWitt just to name a few. He also taught an all ladies band "Strings Incorporated" which ended up taking state championships twice with their full set of Fender Guitars. During the periods from 1957 to 1959 Louis experimented with several different guitars. He started with a Fender Telecaster then moved on to a Jazz Master followed by a Fender Stratocaster. In 1959 he purchased the guitar that he played to this day, a 1959 Gibson ES355 now known as Lucille. Over the years Louis has given pleasure to many people. He always enjoyed performing and passing the gift of music onto others.