Talk about enthusiasm.

Three days before he died, John Carty of Langley was still doing his best to help out the South Whidbey School District.

“He called me over to discuss the unending saga of trying to get the water system going,” Fred O’Neal, school board chairman, said Monday. “That late in the game, John was still in there plugging for the schools.”

Carty, who tirelessly applied his construction expertise for the benefit of his South Whidbey community, died on March 21 at the age of 75.

He had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer only 18 weeks earlier.

“He had one of the strongest personalities I’d ever run across,” O’Neal said. “He was completely devoted to whatever cause he threw himself into, and there were many.”

“He was always ready to step up, and he put his money where his mouth was,” O’Neal added.

Carty, who worked in the construction industry most of his adult life, was a member and chairman of the school board from 1979 to 1991.

“Those were great years for the school district,” said Langley Mayor Paul Samuelson, whose own stint on the school board overlapped Carty’s. “He saved the district a lot of money because of his building background.”

“John was really a strong, dedicated individual with a very big heart,” Samuelson said. “He cared deeply about kids and the educational process. He was a real asset.”

Carty was a prime mover in building and remodeling the new high school, and building the primary school and other district facilities, such as the state-of-the-art transportation center.

“He brought them in on time, under budget and with two extra classrooms,” O’Neal said.

“He gave his heart and soul to the school district,” agreed Carty’s son Scott, who works in communications in Seattle. “It was something he was very passionate about.”

But Carty’s community interest extended beyond the schools.

He was in on the planning and construction of Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley, and was chairman of the Whidbey General Hospital bond committee.

He was a mover and shaker in the South Whidbey Lions Club, and was active in several other organizations and community causes.

He also oversaw the remodel and expansion of the Langley United Methodist Church, of which he was a member for many years.

“He had a very deep compassion for people,” said Carty’s longtime friend Bill Humphreys of Langley, musical director at the church. “He was a big teddy bear, just a beautiful person at heart. Sometimes people didn’t see that side of him.”

“John was more concerned about us than about himself,” Humphreys added. “He was very aware of the needs out there.”

Carty was born in 1934 in Trenton, N.J. and grew up on his parents’ 18-acre chicken farm. His mother was a teacher in a one-room brick schoolhouse nearby, and later became its principal.

“We still have her principal’s chair in the family,” Scott Carty said.

After some time in the Air Force, Carty began his building career in residential construction.

“We were never sure what he did in the Air Force,” Scott Carty said. “The story seemed to get better with the telling. We think it had to do with aerial photography.”

Weary of the demands of running his own business, however, Carty went to work for other firms as a project manager or superintendent.

Accomplishments on both coasts, along with several buildings in Chicago, Ill., included a nuclear research facility at Princeton University, work on the Bangor submarine base, building projects for the Boeing Co., the Skyline Tower in Bellevue (at the time the city’s tallest building) and the Seattle landmark buildings Century Square and Pacific First Center, now US Bank Center.

As an indication of his stamina, when he worked at Bangor he took two ferries sandwiched between a trip down Interstate 5 each way. During his commuting years, he still made it back to the island in time to attend school board meetings.

“He was absolutely tireless in his construction career,” his son said.

“He realized it was a big sacrifice, but he did what he loved to do. He said he was retired, but he never really retired.”

“He told me he probably did $1.2 billion worth of construction in his time,” O’Neal said.

Carty was married twice, and had four sons and two daughters. His wife Elaine died in 2004. They moved to Whidbey Island in 1975, and lived on a 10-acre farm near Langley, along with other family members.

“We affectionately referred to it as the Carty Compound,” Scott Carty said.

“As a father now, I look at his sacrifice and commitment and find it pretty remarkable,” he said.

“Shaking hands with John was like shaking hands with a tree,” O’Neal said. “If you didn’t relax your hand, your whole body would go up and down.”

“We’ll certainly miss him,” Humphreys said.

A celebratory service for Carty will be at 1 p.m. Friday, April 3, at Langley United Methodist Church on Third and Anthes streets.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a charity of choice, the family said.