29910. Beulah La Vern Mitchell
This descendancy line submitted by: Sally Verma of Dover, DE via E-Mail on
19 Mar 2000.
Harold was the oldest of four boys. He played a lot of sports as a child in
West Virginia an especially liked football and tennis. Harold entered Salem
College at the age of 16. He graduated at the age of 20 with a teaching degree
and taught math at a boys school. He decided to change his career and returned
to college. Harold earned an engineering degree in Works Management in 1929
and graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburg, Penn. His
career took him to Flint, Michigan where be began work for Cheverolet Motor
Company. While in Flint he met and married Frances Ude. Harold continued
working for Chevrolet until 1940 when he transferred to Buick Motor Division.
In 1946 he became Manager of Buick's Field Parts warehouses. In 1963, he was
named National Director of Parts, Inventory control and packaging for Buick.
While at Carnegie Tech he became captain of the tennis team . He continued his
love of sports his whole life. He loved competition and the game of tennis and
became the State of Michigan singles champion and held that title for years.
His wife would pack a lunch and take their two children and follow him on the
tournament circuit on weekends during the summer. He enjoyed youngsters
interested in sports and helped many of them learn the sport of tennis and
badminton. He was part of an enthusiastic group that brought tennis pros such
as Pancho Gonzales, Jack Kramer and Vic Secius to the IMA auditorium in Flint
so people could enjoy and learn by watching top notch tennis. He traditionally
served as referree for many tennis tournaments that came to Flint. He was past
president of the Flint Badminton Club and Flint Tennis Club and belonged to the
United States Lawn Tennis Association. He was also a member of the Flint Swim
and Racquet Club and the Atlas Golf Club. He enjoyed teaching his family about
sports and especially the game of tennis. He could still play a good game of
tennis until the year of his death.The Carpenter name became a familiar tennis
name in Flint, Michigan. His son George played #1 for the Central High School
team, played #1 and captain for the Western Michigan tennis team and later
played tennis for the U.S.Army. His son and several of the young men who
learned to play tennis from Harold - founded a Genesse County Indoor Tennis
Club and later a new outdoor tennis facility that is one of the best in the
city. There is a perpetual tennis scholarship in Harold's name for some
outstanding young athlete. His daughter was girls champion for the city for
many years. It is interesting to note that his grandson Bill played #1 for the
tennis team at Kalamazoo College and won several state championships also. Bill
moved to Ohio as a young man and met and married a young tennis pro named Gwen
Morgan. These grandchildren now live in Oregon and Gwen coaches young Juniors
to prepare for the Nationals. Harold now has great grand children enjoying the
game of tennis.
Harold carried on the family Masonic tradition and belonged to the Masonic
Lodge #571 in Grand Blanc, Michigan, F and A.M and the Bay City Consistory. He
was the Chairman of the Board of Deacons for the First Congregational Church in
Grand Blanc, belonged to the Elks Lodge 222 and the Flint Industrial Executives
Club.
Harold liked to plant flowers around their lovely log home and was especially
proud of his roses. He also had 3 cherry trees and a grape vine that provided
wonderful fruit for the family. He also was very good at repairing antiques
that his wife brought home. He loved to hunt pheasant and fish.
Frances was a woman whose sense of humor, positive thinking,and determination
had great effect on those who knew her. As a child she lived in Flint. Her Mom
was ill with TB and Frances took on household responsibilities as a young girl.
Frances later contracted polio and was never able to play sports but enjoyed
them all her life as a spectator. Her father loved to fish and camp out and
took the family on many expeditions in beautiful Michigan. Following her
graduation in 1926 from Flint Central High School she was employed for four
years until her marriage, as a timekeeper for the A.C. Spark Plug Division of
General Motors Corporation in Flint. Frances became a homemaker and took care
of her father, brother and husband in the large family home on 12th street.
She was famous for her fudge, apple and cherry pies. She had a knack for
decorating her home and making everyone feel welcome that entered the door. She
became interested in antiques. She and Harold bought a unique log home in Grand
Blanc and moved their family in 1949. The place was barren inside but had
potential. Frances and Harold enjoyed history and began transforming this Civil
War barn that had been used to muster the Michigan troops into a place of
beauty and charm. They filled it with lovely antiques during the many years
they lived in it and helped give children and adults alike who entered the
home, a true sense of history and their heritage. The floors were polished
wooden oak planks with square nails in them, the closets were totally cedar
lined, the walls of the breeze-way were made of Louisiana swamp wood, the huge
fireplace with wooden mantle was always warm and inviting on cool days, the
upstairs bedrooms were enclosed hay lofts, were just some of the interesting
features of this quaint home. People driving by would sometimes stop and ask to
see the house and Frances would invite them in, give them coffee and show them
through the house. Frances loved to entertain and loved her family. She was
also musical and played the piano and there were many sing-a-longs around her
piano.
Frances was active in volunteer work including the Red Cross and was well-known
in the Flint area for her collection and knowledge of antiques. She was a
member of the First Congregational Church, the Early American Antiques Study
Club, and the Flint Swim and Racquet Club and the Flint Tennis Club. She often
served as hostess for many of the Flint Tennis Club events as her children were
growing up. Her children always volunteered her to be their school room mother
which she enjoyed.
In a letter written to her son she said " My Dad was Passenger Agent George Ude
and known by everyone in town. He started working in the old Depot in 1906
until he died in 1941. I was brought up down at the station as I was his pet
baby and he took me to work with him many a day. I got to know all about
trains, the people that rode them and their family life, also the train crew.
She later mentions in her letter about Judge Weiser. As a child she lived on
5th Sreet just a stones throw from the old carriage house on Court Street. I
remember the judge as a very stately and kindly gentleman dressed in a high
collar and formal clothes with a watch chain hanging from them. The late senior
attorney, Guy Selby, also lived across the street from me. He was the Mayor of
Flint from 1906-08. They never had children so he adopted me. When he came
home each night he used to whistle to me from his porch to come over. I sat on
his knee and learned alot about our county history. He was a school teacher in
Clio until he could earn enough money to go to Law School. He married one of
his pupils named Florence Chambers also from Clio. Many a time he took me on
the old street car to Clio to visit his Mother and Sister Ora. He was always
wanting me to plant a peanut garden for him and he took me to his office one
day and had his secretary draw up a contract about growing peanuts and how the
shares would be divided after the harvest of the crop. I wish I could find that
contract as it was done in a very legal way.
Mary Jo met a tragic death as a result of touching an electric fence that was
across the chicken house door, and she had wet feet.
29953. Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr.