Obituary of Artensy Carpenter

In the early morning hours of Saturday, December 12, 2015,our mother stepped across the threshold of what we call death. Artensy Elizabeth Carpenter was born in Halifax County, Virginia on October 20, 1929 and was the eldest of the sixchildren born to Estelle and Richard Brandon. She was educated in the Halifax County Public Schools and migrated to New York in the early 1950's, living first in Harlem, NY and finally settling on Long Island. She married Robert G. Carpenter of Roslyn, NY in 1951. They moved to Amityville, NY in 1963 where they raised six children in the Amityville Public Schools. She remained a lifelong resident until she became too ill and was a resident of Holly Patterson Nursing Home at the time of her death. Artensy worked for 20+ years as a Nurse's Aide at Brunswick Hospital, Amityville, NY and for Suffolk State Hospital. She retired but continued working at Amityville Public Schools as a dietary aide and was known as "Cafeteria Mom." She was a member of Bethel AME Church of Copaigue, NY, at the time she entered the nursing home returning on a few occasions to visit. Artensy was passionate about cooking and gardening. She might have left the country but the country never left her. Mommy, known as Ma, Aunt Tensy, Grandma, and GreatGrandma had an incredible green thumb and everybody knows she loved to cook. She had an ever expanding garden year after year and a grapevine that she grew from a small vine given to her. She groomed a rose bush which has survived 52 years, and was excited by her moon flower blooming every few years at midnight or the joy of her Christmas cactus blooming every year. Her garden yielded corn, green beans, and tomatoes which she canned as chow-chow or green tomato relish and gave to her friends. She was a serious critic of food. Her enjoyment came from preparing family dinners, barbecues, and fish fries. Not being able to cook in her remaining years was probably her biggest disappointment. She was known for her potato salad, sweet potato pie, and baking cakes which granddaughters have taken the challenge of imitating to her perfection. She is predeceased by her mother, Estelle Brandon, her husband, Robert Carpenter, Sr., eldest son, Ronald Carpenter and sister, Minnie Newbald. She is survived by two sisters, Marie Waller, of Capital Heights, MD, and Ruth Lassiter of East Orange, NJ; two brothers, Willie Brandon of Durham, NC and Allen Brandon of Alton, VA., two sistersin-law, Louise (Peggy) Mealing of NC and Susan Young of NJ. She is also survived by four daughters; Arethia Williams (John), Brenda Carpenter, Donna Carpenter-Moore (Percy), and Rhonda Hunter (William); one son, Robert Carpenter Jr. (Bobby); eighteen grandchildren, Melissa, Stephen, Myisha, Yaronda, Belissia, Sakyna, LaQuan, Tehran, David (predeceased), Shanelle, William (CJ), Ingy, Indhia, Desohn, Robert (Booby), Christian, Justin, Adriana, as well as, twenty-one great-grandchildren and a host of nieces nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.