Carlette Anderson was born Carletta Marie Feaster in Brooklyn, New York on March 28, 1947 to James Howard Feaster and Marie Aterno. She was raised in a little brick house on Stanhope Street, that her grandfather built. When she was nine years old, her parents moved to Ridgewood, in Queens, where they lived in the apartment behind the candy store they owned. After graduating from St. Brigid Elementary School, she attended the High School of Art and Design in New York City and majored in costume design. She graduated in 1964 and started working for Barnes & Noble Union Square, as a sales clerk. That fall she took classes at Long Island University, in Brooklyn and flunked out her first semester. The only class she passed was speech. Her mind was not into school so she took off a year to work and think about what she wanted to do.
She continued to work for Barnes and Noble until she got bored and found a waitress job at “Top of the Sixes” at 666 Fifth Avenue. At the time it was owned by Stouffers and was a great place to have a fabulous view of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Fifth Avenue. Now it’s a private club.
As summer approached she could not see herself working in The City, so she quit her job. She packed up her stuff, secured her surf board on top of her 1947 Nash and drove to the Hamptons to find a job. She went on interviews and was hired by Mr. Chesler to work as a waitress at his resort, The Dune Deck.
The following winter she attended Jacksonville University in Florida and majored in physical education. To help pay for her tuition she became a resident assistant in the dorm she lived in. During her junior year, she started writing a weekly column in The Navigator, entitled TGIF. The column informed students about upcoming events, on and off campus, and interesting tidbits about the past weekend.
After graduation, she returned to New York and became the program director for the YWCA’s Central Branch in New York City. While at the “Y” she met Elisabeth Bing, author of “Six practical lessons for an easier childbirth” and learned about the La Maze method of natural childbirth.
A year later, Carlette married and moved to Germany with her husband, who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. They had two children overseas, and she used the La Maze method that she had learned from Ms. Bing to have her babies without anesthesia.
After the birth of her first son, the nurses were so impressed that they asked her if she would teach La Maze classes at the Landstuhl Army hospital to other expectant couples.
She was also active with La Leche League, and while teaching at the army hospital, heard about a new technique developed by two doctors from Johns Hopkins called “artificial respiration,” today known as cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). She learned the procedure and included that information in her La Maze Classes.
During that time, she wrote a series of articles for the local Army Times entitled “You and your baby.” She also appeared on AFN, the local military TV station, to talk about the La Maze method of natural childbirth and the importance of breastfeeding your infant.
When her husband finished his tour of duty in Germany, the couple moved to San Salvador, El Salvador, where her husband had been raised. She taught physical education at the Escuela Americana and later opened a swimming school called “Escuela de Natacion de El Salvador.” She was a pioneer in teaching mothers how to teach their babies to be water safe. She had two more children and again became involved with La Leche League and started teaching La Maze Classes again to expectant mothers.
During that time, she began writing her column, You and your baby, for the Gringo Gazette, a newspaper published for Americans and other English-speaking people living in El Salvador. She was also co-author of a book called, El Salvador Tips ’n Trips, which was published by the American Women’s Association and the U.S. Mission Women’s Club. It was a guide to help familiarize English-speaking residents and tourists with the entertainment, commercial, medical and sightseeing sectors of the community.
In 1976, due to her efforts of promoting breast-feeding, six other women in El Salvador applied to La Leche League to become LLL Leaders. They called themselves the Magnificent Seven. It was just what LLL was looking for at the time: Third World country where there was a great deal of interest in promoting breastfeeding.
Carlette was contacted by Betty Ann Countryman, one of the founding mothers of LLL, and asked if she would be interested in helping to establish a lactation center in El Salvador. This would be the first of its kind anywhere in the world. She agreed, and in 1978, flew to Washington D.C. to lobby for funding from AID (Agency for International Development). In December 1979, La Leche League received a $500,000 grant to open CALMA. (Centro de Apoyo de Lactancia Materna), a center that provides education, information, support, and encouragement to women who want to breastfeed. Carlette became the assistant director, but due to the political situation in El Salvador and a divorce, she returned to the U.S. and settled in California. After more than 25 years, CALMA is still providing valuable information to the women of El Salvador.
When Carlette returned to the U.S., she worked on and off in sales for various companies. In 1985, while working for ARA., she met her second husband J.C. and a year later, they were married.
In 1988, she and her husband founded Save-A-Heart “The CPR Pros.” Carlette felt there was a need to have available a more practical, time efficient and understandable CPR class. Then, in 1999, they created www.cprpros.com, the first online CPR/AED and First Aid certification course in the country. This online course has made it possible to teach more people CPR and first aid than ever before. You can get certified and your entire family and all your friends can learn these life saving skills for free. In 2001, while talking with Dee Dean, editor of the San Diego County Herald, Carlette mentioned she was turning her journal into a book. Dee asked her if she would like to write a weekly column and submit excerpts from her book for the paper. She wrote that column for almost two years and also wrote articles for The Alpine Sun, kidslifemagazine.com, grandparentsuniversal.com and theblendmagazine.com.
Carlette resides in Southern California with her husband J.C., their golden retriever Bernie and their coy dog Navajo.
