Obituary of Eleanor Louisa Carpenter

Eleanor Louisa Bangs Carpenter died peacefully on November 13, 2020, in Baytown, TX. For the previous decade she had lived in La Porte, TX, near her son and his family. Eleanor was born in Boston, November 24, 1922. She was raised in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where her father, Paul Pressey Bangs, was a fireman. They were descendants of Edward Bangs, who came to the Plymouth Colony in 1623, aboard The Anne. Edward was one of the founders of Eastham, MA, and the family lived on Cape Cod for many generations. Eleanor's mother, Mary Ann Lumsden, immigrated from Hawick, Scotland, with her parents and many siblings at the beginning of the twentieth century. During World War II, Eleanor served in the WAVES, the women's division of the Navy. After basic training in Iowa, she was posted to the Custom House in Boston until the end of the war. She remembered watching for ships of returning soldiers from its famous tower. After the war, she married John (Jack) Carpenter. They lived in Detroit and Philadelphia before moving to Westfield, NJ, in 1954. In Westfield, she was a member of the Presbyterian Church, worked at Lincoln Federal Savings and Loan, enjoyed bridge games with friends and took up golf. After retirement in 1987, they moved to Santee, SC, where they lived until Jack's death in 1995. After she gave up playing golf, she sold the house in South Carolina and moved to Texas. Eleanor is survived by her son Jack Carpenter, of La Porte, TX; her daughter Joyce Carpenter and her husband Tim Snow, of Westford, MA; her much-loved daughter-in-law Joyce Carr; her nephews Bill Simmons and Paul Simmons; her grandchildren Jeff Carpenter, Brandy Carpenter Laiche, Butch Carpenter, Jill Carpenter, Blake Carpenter and his wife Whitney, and Gavvin Colton; her great grandchildren Maegen Laiche, Devan Laiche, and Kai Carpenter; and her great great granddaughter Jewels Laiche. After cremation, Eleanor's remains will return to Massachusetts and be scattered at the graves of her parents and her sister Janette Bangs Simmons O'Hara.