Robert Carruth
Robert Walker Carruth (or Bob, or Bobby, depending where and how you first met him) was born in Gainesville, Georgia on May 17th, 1961, the oldest child of Joe and Sara Carruth. Along with two younger siblings, Robert spent his entire childhood and adolescent years in and around Gainesville, specifically in and around the small mill village of Chicopee, where he would attend the first six years of school. After graduating from high school in 1979, Robert continued his studies at Gainesville Junior College, where he met the love of his life, Lydia, and would answer the call to serve his country in the armed forces. He soon found himself on the campus of North Georgia College (now UNG), and after graduating and being commissioned into the US Army, Lydia and he set out on their life of adventure in 1983.
Robert’s army service took him far and wide over the next 11 years, as he would served in a variety of assignments, to include intelligence, special operations, logistics, and aviation units. The short, but intense military career culminated with his deployment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1990 as part of Desert Shield and later Desert Storm. In 1994, after the Army determined it wasn’t in their best interest to pin a major’s leaf on his collar, Robert ended his military career.
The adventure was just beginning. Soon settling in Concord, North Carolina, Robert and Lydia, now with three children, would soon find themselves involved with humanitarian relief efforts for the children of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It was during this time they adopted a fourth child from Romania. Robert would also become involved in the local political scene, where he was elected to three terms on the board of commissioners in Cabarrus County.
Robert worked in a variety of professional roles, that included his first job out of the army working in a chicken processing plant. He has spent most of his professional career working in risk management, focusing on the public sector.
Robert’s early years were blessed with a great relationship with his grandparents and extended family, which helped to ignite a passion for his family’s roots and history in general. Although he now lives in North Carolina, he still has a deep love for the rolling hills of his boyhood home in northeast Georgia, and his desire is to capture many of the stories, culture, and history of the area in his writings.
