John George Carpenter

John George Carpenter, a man of many talents, passed away peacefully at his home in Morristown, Tn., May 22, 2006. John was born September 19, 1914 in Morgan County, Tn., but lived most of his life in Harriman, Tn. He was a quiet, soft-spoken, self-educated man that could do anything that he wanted to do. At the age of 15, he began living with his older sister, Dorothy Carpenter Murphy and her husband, Joe Murphy, after his parents died, and soon began working, proudly earning .25 cents an hour. When World War II broke out he joined the Navy Construction Battalion, otherwise known as the Seabees. He was a proud member of the 24th Navy Construction Battalion and attended reunions year after year. In 1943, he married Ida Belle DeVaney and together they had two children, David and Jacquie. John retired from TVA after many years of service as a steamfitter. His passion, though, was his artwork. While he began sketching very early in life, he only had one formal painting course, which he had won in a contest. For many years in the evenings and on the weekends, you could find him on his back porch, paints in hand. This dedication paid off, as his artwork brought him a fair amount of local notoriety. Besides drawing the satirical cartoons for Paul Page, former newspaperman for the Roane County News, many people in the community commissioned him to paint portraits and scenes. His pictures hung in area restaurants attracting the attention of many out-of towners passing through and several of his paintings won jury awards in local and regional showings. He donated one of his paintings, The Good Samaritan, to his Sunday School Class at Trenton Street Baptist Church where he was a long time member. For several years he taught an art class for the Harriman Community Education program. In addition to his art, he had many other hobbies. He was involved in wood working, building several grandfather and mantle clocks as well as all of the cradles for his three grandchildren. Another of his interests was the ham radio. Like his other hobbies, his expertise was self-taught. After learning Morse code and passing the licensing test, he spent many hours talking to people around the world and collected several hundred cards from those that he shared a long-distance friendship with. John was preceded in death, in 2003, by his beloved wife of sixty-one years, Ida Belle. He is survived by his son and son and daughter-in-law, David and Jamie Carpenter of Morristown, Tn., his daughter, Jacquie Kramer of Elburn, Il. and his grandchildren, Tara Carpenter of Las Vegas, NV Jeremy Carpenter of Chattanooga, Tn., and Laura Kramer of Chicago, IL. Visitation will be 10 – 12 on Thursday, May 25 at Kyker Funeral Home in Harriman, Tn. Service will be at noon in the chapel at Kyker Funeral Home with burial to follow at Roane Memorial Gardens.

John George Carpenter

September 19, 1914 - May 22, 2006