John Craige Carter (1892-1955), the butler for the Reynolds family, was who really kept Reynolda running on a daily basis. Little is known about Carter’s childhood. His mother, Mollie Carter, was widowed when John was still a boy and worked as a laundress to support John and his siblings. Before he was butler, John Carter worked in the R.J. Reynolds tobacco factory during the day and would act as a valet for R.J. Reynolds at night, but Katharine Reynolds soon depended on him for other things, and he became butler at the Reynolds's Fifth Street house in Winston-Salem, N.C. Carter remained with the Reynolds family through the move to Reynolda and continued as butler for the Babcock family until his death in 1955. Although he could neither read nor write very well, both family members and other workers said that he was the one that ran the house. Even Nancy Reynolds, younger daughter of R.J. and Katharine, said, “He really bossed all of us, particularly after Mother died. He’d tell us what to do; he ran the house, and that was it.” At Carter’s death, Charlie Babcock said, “His death is an irreplaceable loss to Reynolda, to his friends, and to the city. He had a broad interest in all civic affairs and a keen intuition toward his fellow man. He was highly trusted. He was willing to assume any responsibility perfectly. I have never known one of higher integrity. He was a great example to his friends, his associates, and the younger generation.”