Mary Ellen Knight Carter was born on March 17, 1923, in Lafollette, Tennessee. She was a professional writer and artist. Before entering college, she worked for the Jacksonville [Florida] Journal. She studied journalism at the Florida State College for Women, attended the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary, and St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Carter was a reporter for the Norfolk Ledger-Star and served as editor of the Searchlight (A.R.E. publication) for four years. Her authorial credits include: Creative Man (1964); Edgar Cayce on Prophecy (1968); Edgar Cayce on Healing (1969); My Years with Edgar Cayce: The Personal Story of Gladys Davis Turner (1972); and Passage to the Millennium: Edgar Cayce and the Age of Aquarius (1998).
Mary Ellen Carter participated in community organizations such as the American Legion, Virginia Museum, Chrysler Museum, Tidewater Artists Association and the Virginia Beach Arts Center. She won second prize in oils and acrylics in the 1966 VBAA annual exhibit and first prize in 1970. Her work was also presented in the Walter C. Rawls Museum in Courtland, Va. She married James M. Carter on October 19, 1946. Their children are James M. Carter Jr. and Joanna Carter Stinson. James Carter died in 1973.
She served as pro tem secretary to Hugh Lynn Cayce in 1957. She was the editor of The Searchlight from March 1962 to April 1965. During that time, she was also chairman of the A.R.E. Image Committee which established a proposed statement of policy members. She wrote the booklet The Creative Man and was a member of the Publishing Committee.
