wfn.org | ABCUSA: ISABEL CARPENTER, FORMER CONGO MISSIONARY, DIES

[RICH.SCHRAMM@ecunet.org]

AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS SERVICE 
Office of Communication  
American Baptist Churches USA 
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851 
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320 
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director 
 E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

ISABEL CARPENTER, FORMER MISSIONARY IN 
BELGIAN CONGO, DIES
 Word has been received of the death of Isabel 
Frances (West) Carpenter, former American Baptist 
missionary to the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic 
Republic of Congo).  She died Oct. 30, 2001 at the age of 
95. 
 In 1937 she was appointed for missionary service 
by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS) 
and married George W. Carpenter, who had been an 
American Baptist missionary in the Congo for ten years.  
 The following year the Carpenters entered 
interdenominational service by traveling more than 10,000 
miles throughout southern Congo, consulting with more 
than 300 missionaries and gaining insight into the 
operations of the various mission schools. 
Later George Carpenter was released by ABFMS to 
serve as the educational advisor for the Congo Protestant 
Council.  The Carpenters established their headquarters at 
Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) where they advised the 
various missions on educational matters and developed a 
coordinated school system.  They also administered the 
Union Mission Bookshop, a cooperative purchasing agency 
for books, school supplies and printing materials utilized 
by the missions. 
 The Carpenters returned to the United States in 
1953.  George Carpenter died in 1976.

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