Pearl Carter married Stanley Dan Pace, the owner of a profitable roadbuilding company and relocated to his neighboring Cumberland County.
Upon returning from the war, Stanley C. Pace put his aerospace engineering degree to work and rose to the chairmanship of TRW.
After being pulled from retirement in the 1980s, he assumed the position of restoring the giant defense contractor, General Dynamics, to credibility after grievous ethical lapses brought the company to near dissolution.
Through Pearl Carter Pace's activism in the Republican Party, she became a tireless supporter and friend of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Near the end of his administration, Eisenhower elevated her to the commission chairmanship, making Pearl Carter Pace the third highest ranking woman in his administration, next only to the Treasurer of the United States and the new position of United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the first Kentucky woman appointed by a president to a national post.