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Today would have been Agnes' 90th birthday.

julster86, on Mar 5 2005, 05:13 PM, said:

Obituary from the Downey Eagle at the time of Agnes' death, November 1996:

Friends, family mourn Agnes Reuwer Carpenter

DOWNEY - Funeral services for Agnes Reuwer Carpenter, mother of national recording stars Karen and Richard Carpenter, were held Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the Church of Our Father in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cypress.

A strong maternal figure and homemaker who also worked outside the home twice in her life, she lived in Downey and died Oct. 1 after complications following triple-bypass heart surgery.

She was 81, born March 5, 1915 in Baltimore, Md. She met Harold Carpenter when she was 16. He ran a box printing operation with clients including Tide soap. They were married four years later, and were together 53 years until his death in 1988.

During World War II she worked for Mettler Brothers, a subcontractor for Pratt and Whitney.

Her family was her hobby. In 1963 the family left Connecticut for California so Richard and sister Karen could be closer to the entertainment world. Father Harold treated the youngsters at an early age to classical composers including Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. Richard studied music and composition here.

When finances were strained by the move west, Agnes went to work at North American Aviation.

When Richard and Karen's music career took hold in the 1970s and Close to You climbed the charts, the family moved into a new home on Newville Avenue, which they still own.

Survivors include her sister, Bernice; son Richard; niece Joan; and four grandchildren.

Stephen

Wow...she lived a pretty long life, though, but it must have been super tough for her...dying so long after her daughter.

Happy birthday, Mrs. Carpenter !!!

A thought just occurred to me - that means Agnes never knew Taylor Carpenter - she is the littlest of all 5 of Richard's children and she's soooo cute!

I thought the conversation between Richard and his children on Carpenters Forever was funny. He asked them all one by one 'Would you like to be the next Carpenters'...the others all say they have no idea, then dad turns to Taylor, 'you wanna to be don't you Taylor?'. She nods enthusiastically!!!

Stephen

Cool! Thanks for sharing the info. guys! Very appriciated

Simon

Thanks for sharing


Love Ellie xxx

That's interesting to read. Sometimes I think about the little Carpenter kids. Its too bad for them when you think already, their paternal grandparents and their cool aunt are already gone. Most of them never got to really know their extended family members.

I have often thought that too


Love Ellie xxx

Awwww, happy birthday, Mrs. Carpenter!!!


Linda

Happy Birthday Mrs. Carpenter!!!



Karly

Happy Birthday Mrs. Carpenter!! Hope you had a great day with Harold and Karen.

I posted some from the article that Stephen shared with us one year ago.
I had thought Agnes' birthday was March the 4th. Probably I read it in Japanese in '70s.
I had thought Agnes was alive in October of 1996. Probably Peter taught us that Agnes was in hospital the October when UK fans visited Newville House(?)

Richard appeared on Japanese TV in black on Christmas Eve of 1996 and played the keyboard and sang with Karen of first TV Special with screen magic.

Agnes was a beautiful lady. Have you seen her photo with Karen, Richard and Harold in Karen's childhood?
Wasn't Agnes cute when Gene Kelly kissed her?

Sakura

Sakura, on Mar 6 2005, 08:40 AM, said:

Oh, she was so pretty!! I just saw the Jerry Dunphy interview and she was super pretty....when did Gene Kelly kiss her? Was that in a special or something, Sakura?

I thought Mr./Mrs.Carpenter appeared in the Christmas special, but I didn't see them there....was there another Christmas special other than the one dvb put up?

Hey Sakura - remember when I went to Maryland last year for Christmas, and you asked me if there was anything about Mrs. Carpenter there, and I said, yeah, that there's a big sign on the road saying "Karen's mom is from here" , and you actually believed me? That was fun

The Carpenters made a Christmas Special in both 1977 and 1978. In 1977, the script mentioned that "we'll have to come to Karen's party again next year!" (paraphrase) and they did that! Sounds like it could have become a good "series" for Karen - "Karen Carpenter's Annual Christmas Party!" 8 pm on ABC!

Agnes had that high cheekbone structure in her face that is typical of how we see an attractive female face... and she passed it on to Karen too.

I don't have a scanner or I'd scan it, but in the book the picture of Richard with his parents at age 5....if you take Agnes' face and Harold's eyes it would look just like Karen.

Karen was the image of her mother. They had exactly the same shaped face.

Happy Birthday Agnes.