Rita Jean Carpenter

A service to honor the life of Rita Jean Carpenter will be held on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, at 1 pm, at Fountain of Life United Pentecostal Church in Natchitoches LA with Rev. Matthew Pagels and Rev. James Whitehead officiating. Visitation will be held at Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home in Natchitoches, LA, where the family will receive friends from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm Monday, September 19, 2022. There will be a short visitation prior to the service on Tuesday from 11 am until service time at Fountain of Life Church. Interment will follow the funeral service at the Calvary Baptist Cemetery in Natchitoches, LA. Rita Carpenter, 79, of Natchitoches, LA passed away peacefully, Saturday, September 17, 2022 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. She was born in Natchitoches, LA on August 14, 1943 to J.R. Rond and Willie Mae Jordan Rond. Rita was one of a kind. She loved to talk, sing, and be of service wherever she could at her home church, Fountain of Life, where she was a lifelong member. There was no such thing as a short phone call when she was on the other line, as she always had plenty to talk about. She served as Ladies Auxiliary leader there for many years. Rita took the bible literally, as we all should, especially when it came to the verse that says, “Is there any sick among you, let them call upon the elders of the church”; which she did regularly. She believed in the power of prayer! Rita loved her family. She especially loved her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and prayed for them often. She loved and cared for her husband, Raymond, for almost 65 years. She definitely has left her mark on the many people that knew her, and will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, J. R. Rond and Willie Mae (Jordan) Rond; her great granddaughter, Teegan Rae Stewart; her sister Ola-Dean Barbo; and three brothers, Roland, Charles, and Danny Rond. She is survived by her husband, Raymond Carpenter of Natchitoches, LA; one son, Greg Carpenter and wife Mary Lou of Cape Coral, FL; three daughters, Cynthia McClure and husband Conrad of Natchitoches, LA, Leatrice McNabb and husband Bruce of West Monroe, LA, and Stephanie Hanagriff and husband John of Brandon, FL; eight grandchildren, twenty-two great grandchildren; one sister, Audrey Oxley of Sulphur, LA; and a host of nieces and nephews. Those honored to be pallbearers will be Brock Carpenter, Quinten McClure, Leonard Sarpy, Adam Sonnier, Trevor Thompson, and Logan McCain.