Burnet grad drowns in Lady Bird Lake

A 2001 Burnet High School graduate drowned in Lady Bird Lake in Austin Saturday morning, June 3, when he dove into the water to retrieve a woman's purse, according to Austin police.
Teddy Allen Carter, 34, of Austin, formerly of Bertram, was on the First Street bridge with a woman at about 7 a.m. Saturday, June 3, when her purse fell into the lake. Witnesses said he ran to the shore and jumped in to get the purse, but went under the water. Later in the afternoon, members of the Austin Police Department's dive team recovered Carter's body.
Carter, who was born in Temple, spent the last several years living in Austin. According to family and friends, as well as his obituary in today's Bulletin, Carter “was a part of the community that most people don’t want to see, but are driving by and walking around everyday like they are invisible.
“Teddy spent his time trying to bring a face to the homeless people in Austin by being his own delightfully funny self, always making people smile. We may not have understood him and his ideas all of the time, but we will all miss his crazy laugh and bright smile,” according to his obituary.
Carter has been described as a “free spirit and loving individual who cared deeply about others and had a heart as big as Texas.”
He is survived by his parents, Roger and Kim Hatfield of Bertram; sisters, Kristen Carter of Kingsland and Tina Patton of Belton; brothers, Trenton Carter of Bertram and Phillip Hatfield of Burnet; and many nieces and nephews. The family has asked for privacy as they mourn the loss of their loved one.
A funeral service is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 10, at Edgar & Jenkins Funeral Home in Burnet with interment to follow at Pebble Mound Cemetery, Burnet. The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.
Carter has family living in Bertram who have asked for privacy as they now mourn the loss of a son and brother.