Emma Sue Carpenter

EMMA SUE CARPENTER
1913 ~ 2007

Emma Sue Carpenter, a long-time resident of the Moscow community, passed from this life to her heavenly home on Saturday, December 29, 2007, at Baptist Hospital in Collierville. She was 94 years of age and died following an
Funeral Services were conducted at 11A.M. Monday at Morris Memorial Baptist Church in Moscow with Rev. Dennis Neenan of Memphis and Rev. Greg Cook, pastor of the Morris Memorial Baptist church, officiating. Interment was in the Bethlehem Cemetery near Moscow. Peebles Fayette County Funeral Home - Main Chapel was in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Carpenter, a well-known Fayette County homemaker, landowner, and long-time community, church, and farm leader, was truly the matriarch of her family, showing great concern and attentiveness to the well-being and activities of her entire family. She showed utmost patience and love, always available to help with a project or to sew a costume. She was like a busy ant, always working, storing up food for the winter, gardening, canning, baking, caring for her chickens, making homemade soap, sewing, doing handwork, and even painting pictures later in life.
She was an idealistic lady of deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ, a faith she put into practice daily in inner and outer ways. Mrs. Carpenter was a member of, and church clerk for, Morris Memorial Baptist Church for 30 years. She loved music and sang in the church choir for many years. She was a Sunday school teacher for most of her adult life and taught senior adults for 20 years. She took pride in being the church historian for the Fayette Baptist Association, and during her 9-year tenure, she completed a comprehensive history of the organization. She also served as the Fayette Baptist Association WMU director for several terms.
Mrs. Carpenter was a strong lady who never complained. She lived through the Great Depression and thus learned to live conservatively and frugally, never craving material things. She knew that a man is rich in proportion to the number of 'things' he can do without. In 1932, Mrs. Carpenter was the valedictorian of her graduating class at Fayette County High School. She always had great interest and talent in the areas of writing, teaching, and history, especially Biblical and family history. She aspired to attend college but instead chose the life of a farmer. She was married in 1933 to the late Grady Jones Carpenter. They bought their family farm in the Hays Crossing community near Moscow in 1939. They achieved a degree of acclaim and prominence as they practiced soil conservation, self-sufficiency from the land, and home improvement. The farm was recognized as an outstanding one in the Mid-South area. With their model farm practices, the family entered the Commercial Appeal's Plant-to-Prosper Contest during the 1940s. They won county and state awards and finally became the Grand Sweepstakes winner over four states in 1949. The large dairy farm that they operated is still in the family. Mrs. Carpenter was a member of Farm Bureau Women since 1950 and was county director for at least 20 years, often representing the county at state Farm Bureau meetings. She had great interest in and involvement with the Fayette County Farm Extension Service at the county level and also at the local level with her 70-year membership and leadership role in her local Homemakers' Club. She was an individual of active, loving, and patient service to her family and her community.
Mrs. Carpenter was predeceased by her husband, Grady J. Carpenter, a prominent Fayette County farmer and landowner. She is survived by her six children: Dr. Lawrence Myles Carpenter (June), Ada Sparkman (Joseph M. Sr.), Dr. Thomas Grady Carpenter (Jill), Joe Travis Carpenter, James Davis Carpenter (Sherry), and Cynthia Sue Carpenter. She leaves 14 grandchildren: Lawrence Rand Carpenter (Selena), Carol Carpenter Morris (Michael), Suzanne Patterson Kilpper (Brady), Emily Patterson Bell (Andrew), Todd Andrew Carpenter (Robin), Timothy Shawn Carpenter (Melody), Jennifer Carpenter Branson (Neil), Joe Travis Carpenter Jr. (Elen), Katherine Carpenter Crotwell (Ken), Sherry Leigh Carpenter, Rachel Carpenter Gibson (Jon), James Isaac Carpenter, Benjamin Philip Carpenter, and Lisa Erin Wang. She also leaves 25 great-grandchildren.
The family request that memorials be directed to The Gideons International; Morris Memorial Baptist Church in Moscow; or the Southern Baptist Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.