Theresa Carter
Cynthia Schwartz
Theresa Carter is the PebbleCreek Player/Volunteer of the Month. Theresa started her racquet sports career early when she became the ping pong champion in elementary school for two years. Theresa said, “I had an advantage because I was left-handed. My opponents were confused. This advantage has carried through when I learned to play pickleball.”
Theresa was the captain of the girls’ volleyball team in high school and was a track runner. In senior year of high school, Theresa was voted most intelligent. She commented, “It was definitely not cool to receive this recognition, but it landed me an academic scholarship at Washington State University.”
Theresa was on the path to study psychology in college. In her sophomore year, one of her psychology professors told the class that there was a scholarship available to study in Germany. He said that no one ever applies. Theresa replied, “I can do that.” She packed her bags and went to the University of Bonn, where she became fluent in German. In her senior year, she figured out that, since she had 30 credits in German, the only way she could graduate with the rest of her class was to declare her major as foreign languages. Theresa was awarded a teaching assistantship and received a master’s degree in foreign languages.
In college, Theresa met the love of her life and married Joe Carter. They have been married 51 years. After finishing their graduate degrees, they joined the Peace Corps and were sent to the Amazon basin in Brazil. Theresa taught midwifery and Joe worked in the agricultural division. Theresa said, “We learned to speak Portuguese. After leaving the Peace Corps, we lived in Rio for three months.” On to the next life adventure, Joe attended law school while Theresa worked at Nordstrom. When Joe’s first job was in Phoenix, Theresa “got the bug for law school.” She graduated from law school at Arizona State University and was a member of the ASU Law Review.
The couple returned to the Seattle area where Theresa juggled a career specializing in real estate development law while they raised two children. After spending 20 years as a lawyer, Theresa decided that she wanted a new adventure. She became a flight attendant for United Airlines. “I loved to fly. Having lifetime benefits with the airlines has allowed us to travel to so many places, including Korea, China, Turkey, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and of course our favorite—South America.”
Remembering how much they liked Arizona, the Carters eventually built a home in PebbleCreek. The next adventure for Theresa was pickleball. “I started like everyone else. I went to the novice class and became addicted.” Theresa volunteered as the assistant captain for Ladies Ladder and has been captain for the past two years. She served on the ratings committee, the court allocation committee, and volunteered to teach skills and drills for new players. Thank you, Theresa, for volunteering, and we are interested in learning about your next adventure.