This is the third in a series of of profiles in observance of Black History Month.

Blanchie Carter was teaching at Sandhills Farm Life Elementary School in the fall of 1966 when the principal ushered some unexpected visitors into her classroom.

They were representatives of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, down from Washington, D.C., to see how racial integration was going in the Moore County schools. The local schools had been integrated only a couple of months before.

“One of them asked me, ‘What is the ratio in your class?’ “ Carter said. “I thought he meant the boys-to-girls ratio, and I told him. Then he said, ‘No, I mean the ratio of white children and black children.’“

Carter thought for a moment and admitted to the visitor that she didn’t know.

“My principal was really pleased at that response,” she said. “They were all just kids to me.”

Racial integration was a jarring experience for many black children who found themselves in the minority in their new schools — but it was also an unsettling experience for black teachers.

“It was interesting, going to Aberdeen and being the only black on staff,” said Carter’s husband of 35 years, Nat Carter.

Nat Carter had taught at Pinckney High School, the 12-grade black school in Carthage, his first two years out of college. Blanchie Carter’s first teaching assignment was for one year at Southern Pines Elementary School. In fall 1966, he was assigned to Aberdeen High School, she to Sandhills Farm Life.

Both said the white teachers at their new schools made the transition easy.

“It all fell into place,” Nat Carter said. “Kids are kids. One or two parents didn’t take it too well, but when the white kids realized that I had them at heart, they were fine with my being their teacher. And they brought their parents around.”

Blanchie Carter agreed: “When they realized I could teach, and had the kids at heart, why, it was a piece of cake. The white teachers made sure that I felt a part of the school. And as for the parents, there’s nothing they want more than to have somebody care for their children. So we didn’t have any problems.”

That was a long time ago.

Today, Blanchie Carter is a retired school principal who does some teaching at Sandhills Community College, and Nat Carter is a retired physical education teacher who still coaches some athletic teams.

There are many people, both black and white, in Moore County who respect — even idolize — the Carters.

“You couldn’t count the kids Nat Carter has helped,” said Don McCluskey of Aberdeen, whose daughters played for athletic teams coached by Carter. “He always put young people first in his life and career. His retirement left a big void in the hearts of a lot of students and parents.”

Blanchie Carter is a native of Carthage, one of two daughters of the late Ransom Dowdy, a factory worker, and the late Geneva Lee Dowdy, a domestic worker. She graduated from Pinckney High School and from Fayetteville State University with a degree in elementary education.

Nat Carter grew up in Richmond, Va., where his father was a shipping clerk and warehouseman with a chain of grocery stores and his mother was a domestic worker. He attended Kittrell Junior College near Henderson and graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh with a degree in physical education. He taught two years at Pinckney High School — but by the time he arrived as a teacher, his wife-to-be had already left for college.

“I had a friend who was teaching at Pinckney, and she introduced us,” Blanchie Carter said.

She has always called her husband “Carter,” rather than by his first name. “A lot of my friends called me ‘Carter,’ “ he explained, “and she preferred that to the nickname I had at the time.” He did not elaborate.

Nat Carter spent the remainder of his career, after 1966, at Aberdeen — teaching in the high school for two years until it consolidated into Pinecrest High School, then continuing to teach at Aberdeen Middle School on the same campus. He taught physical education and some science classes and coached track and field and girls’ basketball. “Several of my players went on to play in college,” he said.

He retired from active teaching in 1997 but continues to coach at Union Pines High School. He has coached the Vikings indoor track team for four years, the cross-country team for three years, and last year began coaching girls’ track and field.

Nat Carter founded a track club in 1972 and has coached it ever since in the spring and summer. The boys and girls in the club have won numerous state and national age-group championships in indoor and outdoor track events, including the long jump and the triple jump (Carter’s own specialties when he was in college), the high jump, the 400-meter hurdles and various sprinting and distance-running events.

Later this month, Carter will take his team to the Amateur Athletic Union national meet in Maryville, Ind.

“A coach has to do a lot of things and spend a lot of time if he wants the kids to be successful and to have a good experience,” he said. “You have to love it. And you have to have a lot of dedicated parents and volunteers, and I’ve been fortunate on that score.”

Blanchie Carter taught at Farm Life School 18 years. The Carters built their home on Shady Grove Road, on the former site of Shady Grove A.M.E. Zion Church, because it was near the school.

After earning a master’s degree in early childhood education from Pembroke State University in 1984, and earning administrative certification from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she served as principal at Pinehurst (now Academy Heights) Elementary School for two years and at Southern Pines Elementary for 11 years.

She retired in 1996. The school named its new Discovery Park after her. She teaches early childhood education courses and does some counseling work at Sandhills Community College.

She is also active as a volunteer, tutoring and serving as a mentor for a young girl and working with Alpha Kappa Alpha, the service-oriented sorority.

Presently, she is also teaching a middle-aged woman to read. “This woman’s courage and determination inspires me,” she said.

The Carters are members of Mount Olive A.M.E. Zion Church in Carthage. He is chairman of the church’s Board of Trustees, and she is its director of Christian education.

They have two daughters. The elder daughter, Natalie Sharpe, lives in Fayetteville, works as a nurse, and has three children. The younger daughter, Tandrea Carter, is studying for her Ph.D. in health psychology at Miami (Fla.) University, and recently became engaged to be married.

In her spare time, Blanchie Carter enjoys reading self-improvement and inspirational books and working on her home computer. Nat Carter enjoys “working on art projects when I have the time.” He does some sketching and is now working on a montage of family photographs for a wall of the Carters’ home.

Both enjoy time at the beach and time spent with their grandchildren.

Looking back at her career, Blanchie Carter said, “We hear a lot of horror stories about teaching, and it is a hard job. But if I had it to do over, I would teach again. There is always a tremendous need for people who really want to teach.”

Nat Carter echoed his wife’s sentiments.