Norma Jean Carpenter Alt

Norma Jean Carpenter Alt, 95, of Richburg, SC died peacefully in her sleep at her home on Saturday, March 2, 2019.Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM Thursday, March 7, 2019, at Mount Prospect United Methodist Church with Rev. Carlisle Lewis and Rev. Doug Chambers officiating.The family will receive friends from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Thursday, March 7, at the church.Interment will be private. Norma was born inCelina, Ohio August 9, 1923 to Mayme Aurora Wilson Carpenter and Jerry Barnett Carpenter, a farm family on Frahm Pike Road.As a child, she loved nature, the farm and the woods, and she loved learning.She graduated from Celina High School in 1940 and Ohio Northern University with a B.A. in English.After teaching a year in Forest, Ohio, she married Adrian Alt, a high school classmate and returning WWII sailor, at St. Paul Methodist Church in Celina. After farming in Ohio, Adrian and Norma moved their young family to Richburg, SC in 1952 and purchased a farm where they raised dairy cattle and laying hens for more than 30 years.In 1966, Norma returned to teaching Special Education at Lewisville Elementary School and soon completed a Master’s Degree in Special Education. Norma and Adrian were long time members of Mount Dearborn UMC in Great Falls and when she could no longer drive, Norma attended Mount Prospect UMC near Richburg.Ever the intellectual, Norma was the family author, completing books about Adrian’s WWII experiences, her mother’s and eventually her own childhood experiences growing up in rural Ohio.She was an avid reader of biographies and newspapers and kept journals most of her life.She also loved gardening and played her piano almost every day. Adrian and Norma were avid travelers upon retirement, visiting much of Europe, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.Each year they looked forward to the USS North Hampton ship reunion held in different locations all over the USA.Norma especially loved her grandchildren and great grands, always enticing them in with a toy drawer and cookies in a low cabinet they could reach. Norma is survived by her daughter, Linda (Jerry) Berne of Charlotte, NC; two sons, Dan (Patricia) Alt and John (Rudye) Alt both of Richburg; a sister, Mary Ann Carpenter Price of Cleveland, Ohio; seven grandchildren, Roddy Alt, Kevin Alt, Jeffery Alt, Jason Alt, Jennifer Kelly, John Adrian Alt, Jr. and Wilson Alt; and fourteen great grandchildren.In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 58 years, Adrian Leon Alt. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mount Dearborn UMC, P. O. Box 246, Great Falls, SC 29055 or to Mount Prospect UMC, c/o Terry Horne, 2296 Mtn. Gap Rd., Richburg, SC 29729. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.dantzlerbakerfuneralhome.com.