Obituary

Greenwood, Mo. — Jane Pack (Goode) Carpenter’s creative life, framed by a love of music and affection for professional floral arrangements and artistic holiday decorations, came to a peaceful end.

Mrs. Carpenter, 83, of Greenwood, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019, surrounded by her husband and four children and the beneficiary of thoughts and prayers of family and her many friends.

She was born Aug. 27, 1936, in Princeton, W.Va., to Samuel B. and Ruth (Roles) Goode. She graduated from Princeton High School, where she was regarded musically as the school’s “songbird.” She earned a business education degree in 1958 at Concord College, in Athens, W.Va. She was a vocalist with the college choir, performed with the marching band, played piano and saxophone, and belonged to the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. She relished her high school and college reunions.

She married James V. Carpenter on June 25, 1958, at First Baptist Church in Princeton and left the rugged mountains of southern West Virginia for the mysterious world of dairy farming in western Missouri.

A West Virginia newspaper marked her departure more than 60 years ago: “We will be sorry to lose Jane from Princeton but are proud that our town can be represented in other places by girls with the fine qualities Jane has and who is sure to establish a Christian home that her adopted community will be proud of.”

And, she did.

Jane became an integral member of the First Christian Church in Lee’s Summit, Mo. Over more than half a century in the church, she was a deacon and elder, a soloist in the choir, a church board officer and a member of the church’s building committee and minister search committee. She was in Christian Women’s Fellowship: Priscilla Circle and enjoyed the organization’s annual charity events.

Throughout her life, she was an enthusiastic participant in Friends of the Lee’s Summit Symphony, XXV Study Club, P.E.O, Red Hat Society, Lee’s Summit Hospital Auxiliary, Lee’s Summit Historical Society and Heart of America Studebaker Club. When entertaining these peers, her quest was to be a host with the most.

She possessed a deserved reputation as a soprano and shared her gift at weddings, dozens of memorial services at Langsford Funeral Home and other community events. She was regarded as a dedicated home decorator who left no doubt as to what holiday was around the corner. She was a keen fan of the Kansas City Royals and an avid recreational bowler in a PTA league. She was wicked at Bunco, the dice game.

Jane taught in Raytown, Mo., public schools before starting a family. She worked in flower shops in West Virginia and Missouri, and competed in floral arranging events. She was a regular Jackson County election judge.

She was preceded in death by her parents and both sisters, Ruth E. Peebles and Marion Bane. Survivors include her husband, of the home; her children and their partners, Stephen Carpenter and Christine Baeumler of St. Paul, Minn.; Tim Carpenter and Jill Hummels, of Lawrence, Kan.; Carolyn and Chris Stanley, of Bloomington, Minn.; and Susan Zinkl and Bruce Stene, of St. Paul; and four grandchildren, Haley and Tess Carpenter, of Lawrence; and Lena and Sam Zinkl, of St. Paul.

Visitation is planned for 4 p.m. followed by a service at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, at Lee’s Summit Christian Church, 800 NE Tudor Road. A reception will follow at the church. Interment will be 10 a.m. Tuesday in Mount Moriah Cemetery South in Kansas City, Mo.

The family requests memorials to the Lee’s Summit Symphony or Lee’s Summit Christian Church. The family also wants to express appreciation to Kansas City Hospice for lovingly attending to her needs at the close of a long struggle with cancer.