Marilyn P. Carpenter

Marilyn Doreen Bourne was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, October 28, 1928, the daughter of Jenny H. and Clifford W. Bourne. She was educated in the Brockton schools and graduated from Brockton High School. Then she attended and graduated from Houghton College in New York State with a BA degree in French. She also did graduate work at Trenton State in New Jersey and West Virginia University. Marilyn was married to Maurice Phillips while both were students at Houghton. She began teaching immediately after graduation while her husband was attending Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They were parents of two sons, Mark and Paul. The Rev. Dr. Phillips pastored churches in Linwood, Cardiff, and Keyport, New Jersey, before moving to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he became the Director of World Mission Support for American Baptist Churches in West Virginia, a position he held until his untimely death due to cancer. Her teaching experiences were in the following schools: Willow Grover Christian Day School, Roslyn, PA; Linwood Elementary School, Linwood, NJ; Keyport High School, Keyport, NJ; VanDevender Jr. High School, Parkersburg, WV; and Parkersburg High School, Parkersburg, WV. This school was the largest in West Virginia. While at Parkersburg she was very active in school activities and a leader in foreign language promotion in the county and state. She was cheerleader advisor at PHS for fifteen years; chairman of the Foreign Language Department for eighteen years; coordinator of foreign languages in Wood County Schools for many years; started and coordinated the Amity Intern Program for eight years and initiated and had responsibility for a French Exchange Program with a school in Toulouse, France, for fifteen years. She also planned and chaperoned a spring bus trip to Quebec, Canada, for the PHS French students. She was a member of the school’s student faculty forum for many years and advisor for Student Action for Education/Future Teachers of America Association for PHS and also for the whole state of WV. For all the 28 years she taught French at the high school she helped the music department with all their musical productions. Marilyn received many honors while at PHS: the Miss Wood County Teacher Honor Award; Wood County Teacher of the Year for two years in a row; and the coveted West Virginia Teacher of the Year Award. On a national level she was one of the nominees for the Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Foreign Language Education. Parkersburg High School, under her leadership, was awarded the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language Award for being one of the top fifty foreign language programs in the country. Houghton College bestowed on her the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1993. Civic and community activities also took up much of her time, as she was active in AAUW and the Vienna Women’s Club and was a board member for the Community Concert Association for many years. Both in West Virginia and lately in Florida, she was much in demand as a speaker and vocal soloist. As an active member of the Vienna Baptist Church, she participated as singer and soloist in the choir and often directed the choir. She also directed for many years the well-known ViBaChu Singers, a group of about 70 young people, who traveled in WV,OH, NY, and on the East Coast. Her memberships in professional organizations were many: ACTFL, AATF ( served as WV president); SCOLT( served on board of directors); WVFLTA (helped organize and was first president serving several terms); NEA, WVEA, WCEA (life member of all three of these organizations); Alpha Eta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma; Kappa Delta Pi; and a charter member of NSTOY (National State Teacher of the Year). She married Jackson S. Carpenter (Jack) and after taking early retirement from teaching, she began a very busy schedule “on the road“ presenting vocal concerts and motivational programs. She and her husband traveled in their motor home as she presented programs in churches, motor home parks, retirement centers and RV rallies. Even after she retired, Marilyn still remained active in education, her professional organizations and church. Summers have been spent in New York State at Chautauqua Institution where she was hostess/manager of the Baptist House for 32 years. For many years she was a member of the religion committee appointed by the board of trustees and she also was president for sixteen years of the group representing all of the denominational houses at the institution. Prior to working at Baptist House she was the music director of the Boys and Girls Club at the Institution for six years. Marilyn sang in the Motet and Chautauqua Choirs during the entire summer. She was also soloist for the Jamestown Municipal Band at their outdoor summer concerts. In 2003 Marilyn and her husband moved from WV to Florida where they now live in the Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, FL. They are both very active in the life of the community. She sings in the church choir and the women’s chorus and has sung with the Clay County Community Band. She was program co-chair of Sunday and Wednesday events in Barrows Hall. Recently she took up the snare drum and played with the Penney Farms Sunshine Band and the Chautauqua Community Band. Marilyn is survived by her husband, Jack, her sons Mark and Paul, a step-sister, Marie Bradley, and step-brothers Raymond and Roger Lawson, and step-children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Her memorial service will be held at Penney Memorial Church with burial at Penney Farms Cemetery on January 24, 2015. Memorials in her honor may be made to the Commemorative Committee at Penney Retirement Community, Penney Farms, FL 32079.