JOHN CARPENTER

Funeral Mass for Cape Girardeau County Coroner John "Doc" Carpenter of Cape Girardeau will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Mary's Cathedral. Msgr. Richard Rolwing will officiate.

Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau from 4-9 p.m. today.

Carpenter, 54, died Monday, Dec. 11, 2000, at his home.

He was born Jan. 29, 1946, in Sikeston, Mo., son of Wayne and Violet Millar Carpenter. He and Sue Hopper were married Dec. 15, 1994.

Carpenter attended Southeast Missouri State University from 1964-67; Kentucky School of Mortuary Services in Louisville; Southern Indiana University in Jeffersonville; and the Academy of Law Enforcement at Southeast University.

He had been coroner since 1988, and owned and operated Carpenter Mortuary Service in Jackson, Mo., since 1992.

Carpenter was co-owner of Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel from 1988-92, was co-owner of Walther's, Brinkopf-Howell Funeral Home from 1984-88, and manager of Memorial Funeral Home in Columbia, Mo., from 1979-82. He had also worked at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau and Ratterman and Sons Funeral Home in Louisville.

He earned and maintained embalming and funeral director licenses in the states of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky, and held a license from the British Institute of Embalmers.

Carpenter was affiliated with National Funeral Directors Association, Missouri Funeral Directors Association, Southeast Missouri Funeral Directors Association, American Board of Forensic Examiners, Missouri Coroner and Medical Examiner Association, Troop E and Coroner and Medical Examiner Association, and Missouri Institute of Funeral Professionals.

He was a member of St. Mary's Cathedral, Knights of Columbus Council 1111, Harold O. Grauel Masonic Lodge, and BPO Elks Lodge 639.

Survivors include his wife; and a sister, Mary Tetley of St. Louis.

He was preceded in death by his parents.