Downtown merchant Donald Carter, 82, was laid to rest after a funeral with military honors Friday.

A large crowd of family and friends gathered at Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery to bid farewell to the Army veteran from the Korean War, who sold furniture to generations of Suffolk families for more than 60 years.

Though Carter died in tragedy — gunned down near his East Washington Street store early Monday morning, allegedly by three individuals who sought to rob him — his humor, community spirit and love for life colored the service.

“We have gathered here today to say goodbye to a fixture of the community, a man woven into the fabric of our lives — a gentleman whose life was taken from him in the most agonizing of ways,” said the officiating Rev. Matt Winters of Bethlehem Christian Church.

But Carter had said many times he wanted his funeral to be a time of celebration, Winters said.

As a Christian, the pastor continued, Carter knew he would live again after death, and “therefore he did not want us to be sad, to mourn, to stress of his death.”

“He wanted us to be pleased for him, knowing he is now enjoying a new life,” Winters said.

Carter loved people, mourners heard, and his customers always came first.

His wife, Edna Earle Carter, received the American flag from her wheelchair after two soldiers completed the folding ceremony over her husband’s casket.

She had shared with Winters that Carter’s philosophy was always to be out among the people.

“If you’re not with the people, they won’t come into your store,” Winters said. “If they don’t come into your store, how can they get the furniture they need?”

Carter would give away money and canned goods to those in need. He would request change in $5 bills, Winters said, because they’re easier to pull from a wallet to give to somebody who needs it.

There’s one good reason it will be hard to forget Donald Carter: “His furniture sits among us, a gentle, consistent reminder of what is in our community,” Winters said.

A nephew sang the hymn “I’ll Fly Away.” “When I talked to the family about singing, they said make sure I sing something upbeat, because we all know Don was an upbeat person,” he said.

Winters said that Carter was an “investor. He invested in our lives, he invested in our community … he helped transform the city of Suffolk.”

Another song ended the service: Louis Armstrong singing “When The Saints Go Marching In.”