Obituary of Rhonda Leigh Carter

Rhonda Leigh Carter, of Deep River, passed away on Friday, June 17, 2016. The daughter of Donald and Shirley Malcarne, Rhonda was born on December 11, 1960, and lived most of her life in Essex. She attended Essex Elementary School, John Winthrop Junior High School, and Valley Regional High School, completing her secondary education at Northfield Mount Hermon in Mount Hermon, Massachusetts. Rhonda then attended the American College in Paris and the University of Hartford before completing her bachelor's degree in music education at the Hartt School of Music. After college, Rhonda married Christopher Plumb Carter, Sr., and they settled on Main Street in Essex, where they lived for more than a quarter of a century. Rhonda was a regular fixture on Main Street, walking her beloved dachshunds Heidi and Queenie or miniature pinscher Gretel, and visiting with her downtown neighbors. Many others in the area know Rhonda from her decades of work alongside her father at LaPlace Furniture Store in Deep River. After that store closed, Rhonda worked for several years at Essex Financial Services. Rhonda loved animals, all kinds of music (her tastes ranged from classical music to disco and Alice Cooper), singing, her three best friends, and everything about the shoreline area. She was predeceased by her husband, and leaves her mother Shirley Malcarne of Essex, her sisters Deborah Malcarne and Vanessa Malcarne and her brother-in-law Kennon Kashima, all of San Diego, and extended family that includes her step-son Christopher P. Carter, Jr., his wife Cathy, and their two children John (Johnny) and Margaretta (Meggie), all of Connecticut; her uncle and aunt Robert and Marcia Houghton and her two cousins Bobby Houghton and Donna Thames, all of Florida; and members of the Visel family in Connecticut and the United Kingdom. Graveside services were held privately at time of interment at Riverview Cemetery in Essex. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made in Rhonda's name to the Valley Shore Animal Welfare League, P.O. Box 1134, Westbrook, CT 06498. To share a memory of Rhonda or send a condolence to her family please visit www.rwwfh.com . Arrangements by the Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home in Centerbrook.