Portrait of Betty Carpenter. IMB Photo

Betty Hawkins Carpenter, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Liberia, died Oct. 8, 2024. She was 94.  

Betty was born Feb. 14, 1930, in Gainesville, Georgia, to the late Wyatt G. Hawkins and Lorena T. Hawkins. She graduated from Lyman Hall High School and received the Associate of Arts from Truett-McConnell College (now Truett McConnell University), Cleveland, Georgia.  

Betty came to faith in Christ as a child. After she graduated from high school, she attended college where she met her future husband, John Carpenter. They were married on July 26, 1949. While seeking missionary appointment Betty wrote, “As we were endeavoring to find God’s will for our lives we discussed before our marriage the possibility of missionary service.”  

After John’s graduation from college, he became a full-time pastor. Betty worked and served the church alongside him and felt their call to missions became clearer during those years. In May 1958, at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Night, John and Betty surrendered for foreign mission service and moved to Kentucky soon after to attend seminary.  

In 1961, the International Mission Board appointed John and Betty missionaries to Liberia where Betty served in home ministries and as director of the women’s division of the Eliza Davis George Baptist Pastors Training School. The Carpenters served with the IMB for 26 years.  

Betty is preceded in death by John, her husband of 72 years, and a son, Mark Carpenter. 

She is survived by her daughters, Nancy Hulsey (Tommy), Kimberly Abrams (Steve), and Barbara Clement (Jeff); her son Chris Carpenter (Janice); 15 grandchildren; 27 great grandchildren: and one great-great grandchild.  

A funeral service was held Oct. 13 at First Baptist Church of Gainesville. 

Read an obituary here.