Pearl Carter Pace
| Pearl Carter Pace | |
|---|---|
| Sheriff of Cumberland County, Kentucky | |
|
In office 1938–1941 |
|
| Preceded by | Stanley Dan Pace |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 25, 1896 Tompkinsville, Monroe County Kentucky, USA |
| Died | January 1970 (aged c. 74) Burkesville Cumberland County, Kentucky |
| Resting place | Grider Memorial Cemetery in Waterview, Kentucky |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Stanley Dan Pace |
| Children |
Including: |
| Residence | Burkesville, Kentucky |
| Occupation | Educator, Businesswoman, Politician |
Including:
Stanley Carter Pace
Pearl Carter Pace (January 25, 1896—January 1970) was the first woman elected sheriff in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1938-1941.
Pearl Carter was born into a family devoted to public service in Tompkinsville in Monroe County, Kentucky. Her father, James C. Carter, Sr., had served for forty years as a circuit judge in south central Kentucky. James C. Carter, Jr., the brother of Pearl Carter Pace and U.S. Representative, Dr. Tim Lee Carter, also served in political office for many years.
Pearl Carter married Stanley Dan Pace, the owner of a profitable roadbuilding company and relocated to his neighboring Cumberland County.
Originally a schoolteacher and a businesswoman, Pace had a great philosophy of life: "Anybody can do anything he wants if he just wants enough to make the effort." This thinking took her into areas of life largely uncharted for rural southern women. She was the sheriff of Cumberland County from 1937 to 1941. Although other American women had served in this capacity (including a Kentuckian Florence Shoemaker Thompson), Pace was the first Kentucky woman—and perhaps the first in the nation—elected as a sheriff. During her four-year term as sheriff, she came to be known as "Pistol-Packin' Pearl."
Pace's husband, Stanley Dan Pace, had been "drafted" in 1933 to run for Cumberland County sheriff by county citizens determined to control rum-running and organized crime during prohibition. He was elected as the first Democrat to hold that office since the 19th century. When his term ended, he was unable to succeed himself; so Pearl was drafted to run and was elected. Stanley Pace died in a car accident, leaving Pearl Carter Pace to raise their children and to pursue her career in local, state, and national politics.
During World War II, her son, Stanley Carter Pace, a fighter pilot and first lieutenant, was taken as a prisoner of war by the German Reich. Upon returning from the war, Stanley C. Pace put his aerospace engineering degree to work and rose to the chairmanship of TRW. After being pulled from retirement in the 1980s, he assumed the position of restoring the giant defense contractor, General Dynamics, to credibility after grievous ethical lapses brought the company to near dissolution.
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Wikipedia