My first encounter with the phenomenon of Ort was while walking in downtown Athens in 1979 with my friend Charlie Kasper, a Greenpoint, Brooklyn native. 
The comically extroverted and much older Ort struck up a conversation with  two much younger strangers--sophomores living on the 4C hall of Myers Dorm. 
After asking my friend his name and without introducing himself, he immediately tells us he recognized his last name, "Kasper," as and  americanization of the original Polish name, "Kashpherekofski."  
I don't know if that's spelled correctly but he sounded just like that and I remain amazed at what a broad intellectual he was. 
After we walked away, Charlie tells me, "That guy's a genius."                          It was actually how his family name was pronounced in Poland.   My friend Susan Murphy told me in 1982 that she once saw Ort driving a car with a bumper sticker that said, "Ort---record dog"
So I'm sure he collected vinyl records...wow to see the collections of what must have been all kinds of things he probably collected...and to have him tell us about what and why he collected what he did.             Ort was another reason...along with Kemp Jones...Paul Hammond.... that Athens was such a Bohemian intellectual and creative paradise in the late '70s and early '80s and full of wonderful characters.       Shawn Jarrett     SJinAtlanta@Gmail.com

I miss Ort.  I still think of him everyday.   I probably always will.

I first saw Ort in ‘78 or ‘79 in Ort’s oldies a few times.  I was shy and both reveled in and hid behind the records I was fascinated by, we really didn’t speak.  In 1980 I finally, truly met Ort as the doorman of the second incarnation of the the 40 Watt Club.  Back then, downtown Athens was closed and dark by mid evening.  Me and my best friend/roommate decided that we would walk into downtown from our dorm around 9 or 10pm one weekday, literally expecting to find nothing open.  We’re walking through old campus towards Broad St. and we hear a big noise, we are excited by this unknown prospect.  We get to the street outside the club and we realize that we have $1 between us.  I go up the stairs to investigate and I am greeted by Ort who explains what the deal is:  $1 per for all the keg beer you can drink and all the music you want to hear.  We chatted about the band’s sound (to this day, I never knew who it was) and explained our finances to him.  He said we could both go in for free, but we felt too guilty about that, so after conferring on the street, I went back up and in.  Listened to a song or two, went out to thank Ort for his kindness, and then descended to my friend and predictably didn’t find anything else open, so we walked home.  I had a great time!  A few days later I’m walking into town and am waiting at a light to cross Broad St.  Ort comes up and immediately says hello, calls me by my name, and proceeds to tell me the origin of the 4/4 beat becoming the sound innovation that created the first rock and roll songs.  Over an hour later, we have not moved from the corner but I knew every band and drummer from the 40’s who contributed to that new sound.  Wish I could have him tell me again, ‘cause I no longer remember.  Perhaps another time when my breeze meets his again, if I’m lucky, it’ll be at that same corner on Broad St.  Magical.  All the best my friend.

Ort spent Christmas of 1985 with my ex-husband and me at our apartment in Nashville. We were newlyweds celebrating our first Christmas together, and Ort had no heat at his house. A strange way to spend our first Christmas, but never a dull moment when Ort was around!

I remember when I ran into Ort at the record store at 40watt and he kissed my hand as I found a very rare record! He was so happy that I found it that I gave it to him. RIP Ort.

Love,
Judy

Ort never forgot a name or face. I was missing a wallet and Ort was able to return it to me. I had dropped it while getting  gas in my car and didn't notice it until I  returned home. Ort happened to be at the same station and observed someone searching through a wallet,then tossing it in the trash and leaving. Ort checked it out and  realizing it belonged to me, got in touch and I got all IDs, cards, pics back, just missing the little bit of cash I  carried. I will never forget his kind and friendly manner, he will be  missed by all who knew him.

I’ve been walking around this Ort-less world for almost 10 days now and it’s the damnedest thing.  Ort was as perpetual as perpetuity itself. I never imagined a time when he wouldn’t be with us. Through our memories, Ort lives on. Bathtub, she said. 

I remember when I washed windows for the Christian Science Reading Room on Jackson Street, I would see the Ort's oldies record store across the street. At the age of 13, I so wanted to go there but was afraid the church ladies would tell my parents, so I looked on in fascination at the sign that sometimes said "Closed, as usual...."  Later in life, at age 16 I broke into the radio scene at WNGC as a DJ. It was a better job than Dairy Queen and I loved radio. I was also listening to the "Ort's Oldies Radio Problem" at night in the mid 70's on my nights off from country radio. I knew that I wanted to meet him, and meet him I did; I'm not even sure how or when, but we had endless things to talk about. Things like obscure radio formats: The station that played country music by day and Top 40 at night with flyers that said "Guaranteed to play half the music you hate..." Obscure radio tower day/night radiation patterns and the transmitters that fed them. We just knew what each other was into at any given time. Sometimes we would not see each other for long periods but we always reunited in some obscure rock solid way. I love you Ort, and will continue to do so for all of eternity. I know we will meet again in obscure ways for as long as I am who I am. God speed my blessed and beautiful friend.

Rest in peace, Ort. You were loved and you are missed.

Every one Ort met was a friend. That was just Ort. My heart is heavy. You will be greatly missed by many. Haven't been back for years but every time I visited I ran into Ort and he always gave a hug and seemed glad to see me as I him. Always had something interesting to say. I will miss you very much Ort. 

Old friends stay with us forever.



Sincerest condolences to the close inner circle, friends and family of William. He was such a light and inspiration and I know the community of Athens Georgia and all of his loved ones and friends will have a powerful Guardian Angel now. 

I met Bill Carlton when he was just twenty-one. He was not yet “Ort” - just Bill Carlton. He was a classmate of some other friends, but also a fellow student in the Creative Writing class at the Grady School, taught by Dr. Richard O’Brien. As we wrote our assigned short stories, we exchanged them and critiqued our classmates’ work.  Bill’s writing was unique to our class - just stream-of-consciousness: no punctuation, no capitalization, just, well, just Bill Carlton.  His fictional character was Bill Starff, father of two mischievous boys: one whose name I don’t recall, but the other was known by his initials, J.D.A.J.: (Jefferson Davis Andrew Jackson). Bill was often at my place, just hanging out, hanging around, arriving in his 1956 Dodge automobile (named “Lamar” Dodge, after UGA’s well-known artist, Lamar Dodd), always with never-ending wit and commentary and his eccentric but fabulous style. He once brought a dime bag of a sweet Mexican snack called “Cheevaricos” to my place, and offered to share. I casually remarked that I could eat a suitcase full of  these Cheevaricos.  A week later Bill walked in my door with a suitcase, of course:  a suitcase full of bags of Cheevaricos.  A truly memorable individual, even in his formative years

I would seek him out at Peaches in Atlanta back in the 70s when trying to find obscure records. His name tag simply read “Ort”. What a wealth of musical knowledge he had! 

Condolences to his family. 

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

William Orten “Ort” Carlton

26 juillet 1949 – 21 janvier 2023

Bernstein Funeral Home and Cremation Services

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