The Carters

Sensei Monroe Carter

Roe Carter began his study of Wado Ryu karate in January of 1976 under Ray Cross and Don Hendrix. He was one of the first students to walk through the door when the school opened in Lewisburg, Tennessee. Mr. Carter earned his black belt late in 1978. As an ardent student, Roe Carter became friends with his instructors, and because of the mutual respect and Mr. Carter's dedication, he was the student chosen to continue the school in 1983 when Don Hendrix moved to Athens, Alabama and Ray Cross retired as a 4th Dan. At that point Mr. Carter was a Ni-Dan or 2nd degree Black Belt.

While serving as head of the school, Mr. Carter continued to study under Sensei Cecil T. Patterson. Until his death in 2002, Mr. Patterson was the highest ranking occidental in the Wado Ryu system and head of the United States Eastern Wado Ryu Karate-Do Federation in Nashville. His son, Mr. John Patterson, follows in his father's footsteps as head of the federation.

Though karate has been an avocation rather than a full-time job, Mr. Carter has been an enthusiastic supporter of Wado Ryu through the years, attending as many seminars and tournaments as possible. Since 1998 Mr. Carter has served on the board of directors for the U.S. Eastern Wado Ryu Federation. This organization evaluates and grades Wado Ryu Black Belt candidates from the Eastern United States. Mr. Carter recently retired from CKNA in Lewisburg and is able to devote more time to karate.

As part of the larger Wado Ryu Karate Do organization, Mr. Carter, his instructors, and students are given the opportunity to study with internationally renowned martial arts instructors who travel to Middle Tennessee. Visiting instructors included Wado Ryu Grandmaster Hironori Otsuka II before his death and his son Hironori Otsuka III. The Lewisburg Wado Ryu was very honored to have Sensei Otsuka as a guest instructor during seminars at our school in 2007 & 2009 before he assumed the position of Grand Master. Mr. Carter also studied numerous times with Sensei Tatsuo Suzuki, 8th Degree Black Belt, and Masafumi Shiomitsu, 8th Degree Black Belt, both of whom learned their art from the founder.

Sensei Carter was awarded his 7th degree Black Belt in 2010 by Sensei John Patterson. He has received several additional honors, but perhaps the most valued was the 2004 Master Otsuka Award from the U.S.E.W.K.F. This is the highest award presented by our federation, which requires nomination both from students within the school and other instructors in our system.

Sensei Kazataka Otsuka with Lewisburg white belt Logan Gillum in 2007.

Mrs. Jenny Carter

Jenny Carter began karate in December of 1982 in Don Hendrix’s Wado Ryu school in Athens, Alabama. At the time she was an anchor , producer, and reporter at WAFF TV in Huntsville. In the spring of 1983, when Mr. Roe Carter went to Mr. Hendrix’s school to visit and act as guest instructor, they met and Mr. Hendrix eventually lost a student to the Lewisburg Wado Ryu.

Roe and Jenny married November 5, 1983 and she moved to Lewisburg as a blue belt. The next year as a purple belt, she had to serve temporarily as instructor when Mr. Carter went to second shift. This continued for some time off and on; by the time she was a brown belt, she had several other students in the class who acted as co-instructors and were a great support to the school. They were Barry Smotherman, Michael Burgess, Randy Whitworth, and Roy Garrett. The five cohorts went together for black belt testing in the fall of 1986. At this time, Mrs. Carter was still commuting to Huntsville, where she worked as Noon News Anchor, Noon Producer, and reporter at WHNT TV.

The Carter children, Maria and Bill, were born in 1987 and 1990. They grew up in the karate classroom, which for a time was even held in their garage and backyard. It happened that when Mrs. Carter quit her job just a month before the birth of Maria, Mr. Carter, who had been on night shift again, went back to days and she was able to take over his day class. It was a small day class which included Kerry Jewel and Doug Farmer. Through the years there were many favorite day class students including Annette Wakefield, Barbara Higgins, Patti Hoehn Damesworth, Ortha Goudy, Jerry McCord, Lewis Penfield, Dianne Savage, and Cole Williams.

Daughter Maria took karate as a seven year old, but at the time there were few children in the mostly adult classes. She got to orange belt, but was discouraged because there were no other girls in class at the time. By the time the Carter’s began children’s classes at Wayne Malugin’s Fitness Attic in Lewisburg in January of 1997, Mrs. Carter was a fourth-degree Black Belt, and her son Bill was one of the first students to sign up for the class. Bill continued in the children’s classes until he was promoted to Black Belt after a seminar by Mr. Cecil T. Patterson, 8th Dan and President of the U.S.E.W.K.F. That was a signal honor. Mrs. Carter received her Fifth Dan in September of 1999 from Mr. Patterson as did fellow senior student Barry Smotherman. On March 20, 2004, the two were awarded Sixth Degree Black Belts by Mr. John Patterson.

Today, Mrs. Carter works at First Commerce Bank in Lewisburg. Her hobbies are photography and music The Carter’s son Bill graduated from Auburn University and is now a software engineer at Northrop Grumman in Huntsville, Alabama. Daughter Maria did not continue in karate, but at 5’2” still throws a mean mawashi geri. She obtained her Doctorate of Pharmacy from Auburn University’s Harrison School of Pharmacy. She works as a pharmacy manager at Walmart in Huntsville, Alabama.