Pagedale Mayor Mary L. Carter, who passed away Wednesday, June 3, was there for Rev. E.G. Shields Sr. at the beginning of his call as a pastor and at the beginning of his vocation as mayor. The day before his friend and mentor passed, Shields was elected to succeed her as Pagedale mayor.
Fifty years ago, Carter was clerk of Union Paradise Church at 2742 Clara Ave. in the City of St. Louis. Shields was a young deacon there who was called to preach in 1971. “She being the church clerk,” Shield said, “her name is on my license and ordination papers. I have had them since 1971.”
When Carter, who was first elected mayor of the ring suburb Pagedale in 1992, decided not to seek reelection in 2020, she asked Shields to run with her blessing.
Shields is now pastor or Mt. Beulah Missionary Baptist Church in Pagedale, where he also lives. He cofounded the church out of the ashes of Union Paradise Church, which burned in 1972. He also suggested the name, Mt. Beulah, which was the name of his home church in Indianola, Mississippi.
Mt. Beulah is one of the community anchors that Carter leveraged in developing Pagedale, along with Beyond Housing. “Pagedale now has two senior buildings, both connected to me and my church,” Shields said.
Carter also helped to lead the development of a bank, movie theater, supermarket, “and other buildings that are going up even as we speak, with more projects still in the pipeline,” Shields said. Remarkably, Carter and her partners helped bring these services to Pagedale when peer municipalities were losing services and jobs.
Chris Krehmeyer, president and CEO of Beyond Housing, who said he is “heartbroken” at the loss of his friend and development partner, pointed out that Pagedale saw its population stabilize in the 2010 census after consistent population loss since 1970
“The stabilizing of the population, we believe, is the first sign that enough work has been done to show residents that things are changing and that they can stay in their community or move here,” Krehmeyer told The American in 2019.
Monica Huddleston worked closely with Carter in Beyond Housing’s 24:1 Municipal Government Partnership when Huddleston was mayor of neighboring Greendale. “She was a strong sister who ran that city like a general,” Huddleston said of Carter. “She had her own way and was determined to see it through for the benefit of the residents who live in Pagedale. They and the rest of us in the 24:1 area owe her a lot.”
Krehmeyer said Carter “was the epitome of a public servant.” Shields said the same.
“Pagedale was her heart,” Shields said. “She was a strong leader, a non-nonsense leader. When it came to business, she was firm. So many great accomplishments can be accredited to her leadership.”
As her health began to fail and she decided to retire in 2020, she hand-picked Shields to run with her endorsement.
“She asked if I would run and pulled out all of the stops to help me,” Shields said. “She gave me wise council and a letter of endorsement that I used in my mailings.”
The two old friends last spoke on Monday, when Shields asked her to record a last-minute robocall that went out to 300-some people. “She sounded a little shaky,” Shields said. “That was the last conversation we had.”
When he called her on Wednesday to thank her for her help in his victory, she was sleeping. He told her son not to wake her. She passed before they spoke again, but she died knowing her hand-picked successor would lead Pagedale.
“I believe she went to glory resting in peace knowing that I will help in aiding her to carry out her wishes – to continue her legacy – and that is my intention. I will do all I can to keep memory alive and all of her causes. She got us started on the pathway, and I will keep us there.”
