Prinston A. McCarther
Veteran Baltimore City and Baltimore County public educator, 81, was avid golfer, painter and active in charities
Prinston A. McCarther, a veteran elementary school educator who taught in city and county public schools and was an avid painter and gardener, died of pneumonia April 25 at Northwest Hospital in Baltimore County. The Randallstown resident was 81.
“Prinston was a very smart, suave and classy man,” said a brother, Keith McCarther, of Newark, Delaware. “He had a calm demeanor. He never got upset, was always composed and relaxed, just like our father.
“He was very committed to his family and always wanted to do the right thing. He was a good man. He was raised right by our parents, and it all goes back to them.”
Prinston Abany McCarther, the third of 12 siblings, was born and raised in Mount Airy, North Carolina. He was the son of Charlie Eugene McCarther and Flora Ann Hatcher McCarther, who were farmers.
“Tobacco was their main crop and the produce — corn, beans and tomatoes — were for the family,” Mr. McCarther said.
Mr. McCarther was 16 when he graduated from J.J. Jones High School and entered what was then Winston-Salem Teachers College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1963 in elementary education and was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
After beginning his teaching career in Amelia County, Virginia, public schools, Mr. McCarter moved to Baltimore in the late 1960s and taught second and third grades in public schools.
While teaching in city schools, he met the former Rose Marie McFadden, a music teacher, whom he married in 1968. She died in 2006.
Mr. McCarther later became a guidance counselor and obtained a master’s degree in education in 1990 from what is now Loyola University Maryland.
“He was a very dedicated teacher and spent his whole career as an educator,” said Walter Gaddy, president of the Baltimore chapter of the Winston-Salem State University Alumni Association. “He cared about his students. He was always calm and peaceful and he gave his students a sense of being respectful.”
Mr. McCarther retired from Johnston Square Elementary School in 2003.
“He was such a gentleman and was from the old school,” said Brenda Young of Pikesville, his companion of 16 years. “He was always very positive and never judged anybody. He was a great educator who told his kids, ‘You get out of life what you put in, and you have to work hard.’”
In retirement, he became an active member of and billiards player at the Liberty Senior Center in Baltimore County, where he also took art classes.
Working in oils, he painted landscapes and occasional portraits, family members said.
An avid golfer, he regularly played with a group of friends at the Forest Park Golf Course and enjoyed excursions to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he played with his brother-in-law, as well as competing in charity tournaments with his son.
Mr. McCarther, a fan of the blues and jazz, also liked performing karaoke, playing Scrabble, attending McCarther and Hatcher family reunions in North Carolina, and cookouts. He also liked casino gambling in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
Mr. McCarther was an active member and former officer of the Baltimore chapter of the Winston-Salem State University Alumni Association. He also had been a volunteer with Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland Inc.
“He was also always gathering and donating food to the poor,” Ms. Young said.
He attended Rising Sun First Baptist Church in Lochearn.
Mr. McCarther joined the Chestnut Ridge Progressive Primitive Baptist Church in Mount Airy, North Carolina, at a young age, family members said. Funeral services were held at the church Saturday.
In addition to his brother and companion, Mr. McCarther is survived by his son, Steven T. McCarther of Richmond, Virginia; a daughter, Gloria McCarther of Northeast Baltimore; three other brothers, Thomas McCarther of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Bishop Langston McCarther of Winston-Salem, and Morris McCarther of Summerfield, North Carolina; three sisters, Marjorie Brown and Debra Williams, of Mount Airy, North Carolina, and Vickie Ford of Lexington, North Carolina; and two grandsons.