Barry Carter

Barry Scott Carter, 68, passed away April 4, 2018, at his home in Baker City, Oregon. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, April 21, at 2 p.m., in the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, at 1995 Fourth St., in Baker City, Oregon.

Barry was born to Truman and Betty Scott Carter on June 25, 1949, at St. Elizabeth Hospital, in Baker. After graduating from Baker High School in 1968, Barry earned a National Merit Scholarship and attended Eastern Oregon for a year, before deciding that college "was interfering with my education."

On Aug. 26, 1973, he married Sallie Williams, of La Grande, and spent the next year remodeling a house on her ranch outside of La Grande. Their son, Deva Williams, was born June 1, 1974. When the marriage broke up in early 1975, he moved back to Baker and continued working on carpentry and in the expanding field of electronics, building his own components.

In the 1980s, he became an environmental activist, using his computer skills to improve communication among the far-flung activists of Eastern Oregon. Barry married Susan Kaye Peterson, a fellow activist, on May 17, 1987. She died of cancer on Nov. 26, 1999.

In the late 1980s, he began working with a friend on ozone generation and machining and marketing the generators. By 1995, Barry had shifted his focus to a mineral nutrient concentrate called ORMUS, or m-state, which he spent the next 23 years researching and promoting, through scientific collaboration, lectures and online blogs. His work was supported by donations, since he was never interested in making money from the products.

"It is important that this gets to the world," he said. "It is important that no one single-sources any part of it."

Known for his quick wit, Barry had a pun for every occasion, and even created a blog for his puns. "I don't want to dis a peer, but I think of all of the ORMUS folks as my peers!" he wrote. Just two weeks before he died, he posted that he had been getting some "object shuns (objections) about my addition of puns to some of my posts," and explained that the puns helped him to avoid thinking about things he didn't want to think about.

Throughout his life, Barry's main interests centered around science and spirituality, which he believed intersected in interesting ways. He communicated those interests with his friends and followers on social media. His ORMUS Facebook page had 7,395 members from around the world.

He was preceded in death by his wife Susan; parents Truman and Betty Carter; and parents in law Mike and Virginia Petersen. 

Barry is survived by his son, Deva Williams, of La Grande; grandchildren, Hunter and Chevelle Williams, of La Grande; brothers, Kip and Corry Carter, of Baker City, and sisters, Tamara (Phil) Mattson, of Troutdale, Holly (Bob) Gill, of Madras, and Libby (Dave) Rudolph, of Baker City; numerous nieces and nephews, Adam Mattson, of Troutdale, Lisa Mattson, of Portland, Chase Gill, of Snohomish, Washington, Carter and Kelsey Gill, both of Hillsboro, Turner Gill, of Missoula, Montana, Koby Rudolph, of Gresham, and Jordan Rudolph, of Baker City; and ex-wife Sallie Williams, of La Grande.

For those who would like to make a memorial donation in honor of Barry, the family suggests Best Friends Inc. through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home and Cremation Services, PO Box 543 Halfway, Oregon 97834. Online condolences may be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com