Viola Starks Carter was born May 6, 1893 in Walkerville, Ontario to Vincent Nathaniel and Sarah (Brooks) Starks. The Starks family had long moved back and forth between Ypsilanti and Ontario where the Starks had roots in the Dresden and Chatham areas. Violas family settled for good in Ypsilanti in 1904 and they lived on Forest Avenue. She graduated from Ypsilanti High School and went on to Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University where she became a nurse. As a nurse she worked for Ypsilanti’s early Black doctor, John Dickerson. Viola was active in church and social organization her whole life, including the Palm Leaf Club. She married Arthur Starks in 1947. She died on July 4, 1991.
