One of four children, Carol Wade was raised in Hookerton, North Carolina. Her parents were farmers, neither of whom finished high school. After graduating high school in 1975, Wade worked for sixteen years at the Kinston Shirt Factory. She then enrolled at Lenoir Community College full time, working several jobs to support her three children.
Wade graduated from Lenoir Community College in 1994 with a degree in Library Media and tool a position at East Carolina University’s library. She began taking one class at a time during her time at East Carolina and eventually graduated with a degree in business in 2003.

Listen to and read a transcription of her oral history

Citation
Carol Wade oral history interview, April 30, 2008. First in the Family Oral History Collection. UA45-05. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/1252