Terry Carter:
CLASS OF 1967
Burroughs High SchoolClass of 1967
Ridgecrest, CA
Terry's Story
Well, to start, I must admit that I squandered high school at Burroughs. It wasn't until the second semester of my senior year that I realized what I had wasted. After Burroughs, I had no prospects of college, but got a good job as a mailman at the China Lake/Ridgecrest post office. The money was good ($2.64 an hour!) as well as the benefits (retirement, health insurance, and more). I got married, but was way too young and immature for that.
In 1968 I went back to school and took night classes from the Bakersfield College extension program. In late 68, I transferred to a post office in the San Bernardino area to be closer to family. Once there, I had planned on attending San Bernardino Community College, but my plans were derailed.
Just before moving, my wife and I got involved with an exclusivist religious sect that predicted Armageddon was coming in 1975. Not being the religious type, as none of you would deny, I had to learn what Armageddon was, and it wasn't pretty. So, in early 69, we joined after moving to San Berdoo. Getting a higher education was verboten by my newfound religion since the End was coming in six short years. They likened working on a higher education to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. So I dropped my plans and immersed myself in my religion.
I quit the post office to proselytize full time, and started a janitorial business that allowed me to work nights and knock on doors and stand on street corners during the day. But the smog in San Berdoo was simply intolerable (this was before California started to clean up its air), so we moved back to Ridgecrest in the summer of 69.
I went back to work for the post office. Because my religion was opposed to military service, I never went in, but I got a I-A-O classification (conscientious objector ready for non-combatant service). And then the draft lottery was introduced, and I got a high number so was never called.
Meanwhile, my wife and I had two sons, six years apart, even though my religion discouraged it (why have babies when Armageddon is coming, folks?).
In 1974, I began to get disillusioned with my religion when the hierarchy started backpedaling about 1975 (which did come and passed uneventfully: surprise!). The worst part of this was that the hierarchy placed the blame on the laity for speculating about the End! And this despite what they had published or spoken in public for six years.
In 1975, I started college again at Cerro Coso Community College (a wonderful college!). I loved it and took as many courses as I could, and aced every one. In 1977, I had a...Expand for more
big falling out with my religion and resigned.
At Cerro Coso, I studied data processing. By then I was a substitute supervisor at the post office and developed programs in data collection and analysis on a programmable calculator. This led to a promotion at the Bakersfield postal management center in 1985, where I became the IT manager. Two years later I got a promotion as a computer systems analyst at postal headquarters in Washington, DC., to work with mid-frame DEC VAX systems. I finished my college degree at a local university with a B.S. in information systems.
Meanwhile, I divorced and remarried in 1991. In 1996, my wife Julie (who also worked in postal HQ by that time) and I entered an MBA program at Loyola University in Maryland, and graduated in 1999. Still at postal HQ, I moved into finance and became assistant treasurer, and later moved into marketing as an associate VP of electronic business development. In 2002, I took advantage of an early out and retired.
I taught part-time at a local college, and volunteered at the Combined Federal Campaign. The CFC asked me to come to work for them and I served as deputy director of operations. Then, in 2005, after accomplishing my goals there, I decided to pursue real estate.
In late 2005, I became a licensed real estate agent, and several years later became a broker. In May 2017 I retired. My wife and I have lived in a condominium in downtown Washington since 2004, just blocks from the National Mall and museums.
I continued volunteering, and for a year taught personal finance at an inner-city charter high school for at-risk youths. Beginning in 2009, I volunteered for 10 years as a docent at the National Archives and Records Administration, where the Declaration of independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are on permanent display. Plus, there is much, much more in their expanded museum. How I wish that Mr. Grober were still alive to know this, but he probably wouldn't believe it!
My wife retired from postal HQ in early 2018, and we set about traveling the world a lot more, which came to an abrupt halt in 2020 due to the pandemic. Our last trip was to Egypt in February 2020. While there, we read about the first case of the novel coronavirus in Egypt.
Last, as to my name change, wouldn't you have? I decided to change my name and my sons' in the early 80s. Carter is my late step-father's name. He married my mother after I was an adult, but he became a better father to me than my biological one. It was an honor to take on his name.
That about sums it up. Stay safe, and wear a damn mask!
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