D. Bernard "Bernie" Carpenter

D. Bernard “Bernie” Carpenter of Davenport, Iowa, passed away on May 30, 2025 at Oakwood Place Assisted Living at Ridgecrest Village in Davenport with St. Croix Hospice care present.

His funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, June 7, 2025 at St. john’s United Methodist Church in Davenport, Iowa where he was a longtime member. Visitation will be held on Friday evening from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at McGinnis-Chambers Funeral Home in Bettendorf, Iowa. Burial will be in Davenport Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials may me made to St. John’s United Methodist Church or to Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa to support the college’s department of classical and modern languages.

Bernie was born in Russell, Iowa on Christmas Day, December 25, 1934, the youngest of five children to Holly Lee and Candacy Elzeda (Harding) Carpenter. He moved to Chariton, Iowa when he was four and attended Chariton schools until going to Cornell College. The first of his family to go to college, he studied Spanish and met his wife-to-be, Cintra Sue Cracker. Following graduation, he traveled to Nicaragua with a Fulbright Scholarship and taught English there for 9 months.

On December 27, 1956, he was united in marriage to Cintra Sue Cracker at St. John’s United Methodist Church. It was a Christmas-themed wedding, complete with red velvet dresses, white fur muffs and poinsettias.

He got his first job teaching Spanish in Pittsfield, Illinois. He taught there for a couple years and then went on to earn his master’s degree at the University of Oregon in Eugene in 1963. After completing his master’s, he returned to Davenport and taught at West High School for two years, then enjoyed a 30-year career at Pleasant Valley High School until finally retiring in 1994. Along with teaching Spanish, “Carp” also enjoyed coaching boys’ cross country and track, and could be found working summers at Trusco Lumber Yard and later at K & K Hardware. He loved being outdoors whether it was working in his garden on the harbor, picking raspberries by the creek, or “finding” rocks from Connie Flick’s river lot that he needed for the banks of the canal. He also enjoyed birding, stamp collecting, hunting and fishing. He loved learning.

Bernie was an active member of St. John’s United Methodist Church, the same church he was married in, and where his wife Cindy attended all her life. He was part of Eager Beavers and was also an usher there for many years. He and Cindy volunteered to work the Bix race for over 20 years and enjoyed the many friends they met through Bix volunteering. They thoroughly loved traveling with friends all over the world and felt very fortunate to do so.

Those left to honor his memory include his wife of 67 years, Cindy; his daughter, Kimberlee (Tom) Beauchamp of Pittsboro, North Carolina; his son Dr. Kevin (Stacie) Carpenter of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; his niece, Kandy (Bill) of Chariton, Iowa; his nephew Dr. John (Nadia) Cracker of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; his grandchildren, Caitlin (PJ), Michael (Jen), Maren, Abby (Nathan), Sam (Connor) and Jessica (Joel); and great-grandchildren Aletta, Jackie, Mabel, Murphy, Millie and Jonas.

Bernie was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers, Lee, Bill and Lyle “Red”; his sister, Velda Ann “Tootie”; along with his parents-in-law; his brother-in-law, Dr. Andrew Cracker ;his niece, Mary Ann Cracker and his grandchild, Thomas Peter.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family by visiting Bernie’s obituary at www.McGinnis-Chambers.com.