He was the kind of boy who would invite new students to eat with his crowd in the school cafeteria.

The kind who would religiously attend football practice even though he didn't get to play much.

The sort who could unfailingly make you laugh.

That was Connor Carter. He was nicknamed "Superman" because he had super qualities, his loved ones say.

More than a year after the ninth-grader died unexpectedly as he lay recovering from knee surgery, his friends are keeping his memory alive through connorskindness.com, a Web site that encourages spontaneous acts of kindness.

His organs were given to the Gift of Life Donor Program.

His parents have established a scholarship fund in his name at Hempfield High School.

Plain and simple, said his dad, William A. Carter, M.D., "He was a wonderful kid."

Carter, who sat down with his wife, Barbara, for an interview Thursday in their joint office at 930 Red Rose Court, East Hempfield, shared with his son a love of cars.

Connor liked animals. He had an affinity for math, science, gourmet food and loud sneakers.

He was active in the SHOUT ministry at Hempfield United Methodist Church.

One thousand people came to his memorial service on Dec. 22, 2008, according to his parents.

Barbara Carter, speaking often through tears, said she still has not summoned the nerve to look at the scrapbook put together by a family friend.

Last week, Connor's father seemed still to be amazed that the boy had taught himself to ride a unicycle in two weeks.

Popular as he was among peers, his parents say, he was the antithesis of the teen rebel.

"It's almost like he came to us an old soul," his mother said. "He was kind of raised with adults. I'd lug him to market, and I'd lug him to Costco." And he ate it up.

Even when he was a young child, she said, they'd often take him with them when they dined out.

When they didn't, Barbara Carter added, her daughter's friends clamored to baby-sit him.

The daughter, Amanda Nauman, 26, "was like his second mom," Barbara Carter said.

Connor was the couple's only child together. Each had a son and a daughter through previous marriages.

It was Connor who united the large extended family, his mother added.

"He used to call [her husband's] son his 'brother from another mother' and my daughter his 'sister from another mister,' " Barbara Carter said.

Since he died, she added, the family has made a point of gathering every Wednesday night for dinner.

"Connor was the glue that held us together," she said. "And he's still the glue that holds us together."