MARGARET ANDERSON CARPENTER

CARPENTER, Margaret Anderson, passed away Mondayevening, March 30, 2009,ending a life of public serviceand accomplishment appreciated by many. Born April 7,1924 in Birmingham, Alabama to Benjamin Paine and Margaret Morrow Anderson, Margaret grew up in Birmingham,graduated from the Universityof Alabama in 1944 with aB.A. in a curriculum she created that later became the basis for the University's degreein commercial art. She was amember of Mortar Board andtreasurer of Kappa Delta sorority, and she volunteered asa nurse's aide at NorthingtonHospital in Tuscaloosa whereher first patient was Maj. Buford Harrison Morris, awounded Army Air Corp pilotwhom she married a year later. After six years in Birmingham, Margaret and Bufordmoved to Tallassee, AL wherehe worked with SoutheasternSand and Gravel. She spenther time raising three boys,teaching art classes and volunteering for church, schooland civic activities. In 1961, she and Bufordstarted a business in Montgomery, Compos-It, Inc., thatpioneered typesetting for offset printing. Buford died suddenly in 1963, so Margaretand her three sons movedfrom Tallassee to Montgomery to run the business. Shesuccessfully bid on a contractto typeset all of the correspondent courses for the AirForce growing Compos-It to ahigh of 97 employees, thelargest typography firm in theSoutheast. In 1972 she married Dr. Charles Carpenter, aconsultant to the paper industry from Dallas, TX. Her marketing plan-both businessand personal-was to get involved in community arts organizations to get to knowMontgomery's leaders. In1979, she took on a project ofthe Council of Jewish Womencalled Jubilee, seeing an opportunity to showcase downtown Montgomery as a venue for restaurants and entertainment with bands, foodand crafts. For over a decadeshe managed this free-to-the-public Memorial Day weekend celebration for Montgomerians and their visitors thatgoes on today as JubileeCityFest, growing the eventfrom 1,300 to over 60,000 participants. Her energy, resourcefulness and get-it-doneattitude was impossible to resist. With her usual good humor, she referred to herself asthe ""TW""-Token Woman-oncommittees and boards,which grew in number andimportance as the years wenton. She served on the boardof directors of the AlabamaShakespeare Festival, Montgomery Business Committeefor the Arts, Montgomery Symphony, United Way, Success-By-Six, Metro YMCA, GirlScouts, and many others. In1995 she became the firstwoman to chair the board ofthe Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. During heryears of service her emphasiswas on small business development, which let to the creation of COSBE and the Incubator. She also was a tirelesspromoter of economic development. Margaret was askedto join the Men of Montgomery, prompting its namechange to the Committee of100, of which she later became chair and is, to thisday, its only Member Emeritus. Riverfront Developmentwas her agenda there, planting the seeds for the dramaticchanges downtown thatmade have her so proud. Shewas recognized as Alabama's Small Business Person ofthe Year and asked to serveon the White House Councilon Small Businesses. In 1989she was named the Montgomery Advertiser Citizen ofthe Year. In 1990 she was amember of Leadership Montgomery Class VII, where it became clear that quality education was the solution tomost of a community's problems. That was reinforced in1991 as a member of Leadership Alabama's second class,and led to her running for theMontgomery County Boardof Education in 1992. Sheserved on the School Boardfor twelve years, several as itschair. While on the board shewas a tireless advocate forpublic schools and the driving force behind the creationof Brewbaker TechnologyMagnet School, securingfunding from public and private sources. Home Instruction Program for PreschoolYoungsters (HIPPY) was a favorite program. She was alsoa founding director of Second Chance Foundation,which serves our most at-riskstudents. In 1993 she was the first woman elected to the Board of Directors of Alabama PowerCompany, serving until 1996.In 2000 she retired from Compos-It as it merged with Walker Printing Company. She wasrecognized by the BusinessCommittee for the Arts in 2003with the Wynton M. BlountAward for lifetime contribution to the arts, and in 2008was a MACOA Senior ofAchievement. In her 40 yearsof involvement with her beloved Montgomery, she demonstrated the very best ofwhat John Gardner calledthe ""servant leader."" She is dearly missed by herfamily and friends. She waspreceded in death by herhusbands, Buford HarrisonMorris Sr. and Dr. Charles Halsey Carpenter; parents, Margaret Morrow and BenjaminPaine Anderson, Birmingham;son, Dr. Anderson MorrowMorris; and nephews SilasDouglass Cater, III. and Rebecca Sage Cater. She is survived by her sons, BufordHarrison ""Grits"" Morris Jr.(Mary Foy), and Daniel Winston Morris (Rebecca), Montgomery; daughter-in-lawMary Johnson Morris, Birmingham; sister, Libby AndersonCater Halaby, Washington,D.C.; granddaughter, Margaret Morris Blackney (Shawn),Nashville, Tennessee; grandsons, Pelham Anderson Morris, Birmingham, Buford Harrison Morris III (Kelton), Dothan,Herbert Thomas Morris, DanielWinston Morris Jr., and William Savage Morris, Montgomery; niece, Libby MorrowCater Sheer, San Francisco,and Benjamin Winston Cater,Baltimore; and great grandchildren Thomas HardwichMorris, Frances Foy Morris,Dothan and Memphis Anderson Morris, Nashville. A memorial service will be atFirst United Methodist Churchat 11:00 a.m. on Thursday,April 2. The family will receivefriends prior to the service at10:00 a.m. in the FellowshipHall of the church. A privateinternment will precede theservice. In lieu of flowers, thefamily requests donations bemade to the MontgomeryCounty Board of Education orFirst United Methodist Church.In lieu of flowers, the familyrequests donations be madeto First United MethodistChurch or Montgomery Public Schools, Margaret Carpenter Memorial Fund, P.O. Box176, Montgomery, AL 36101-0176. Alabama HeritageDirecting