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1915 Thea 2022

Thea Carpenter

February 6, 1915 — March 30, 2022

Forest Lake

Thea M. Carpenter, long-time resident of Forest Lake, beloved mother, aunt, and friend, passed away on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 to the arms of Jesus, at the age of 107 years old at home with her daughter and her beloved cats at her side.  Blessed with a long life, she will be forever loved and missed by many.

Thea was born February 6, 1915 on a farm in Knife Lake Township, Kanabec County, Minnesota, the second of three living children born to Samson Mathias and Margaret Horne. She spent her early years on the farm and attending a one-room country school. Graduating from the eighth grade from the Ann Lake school, she then graduated from high school in 1933 from the Mora High School.  Following high school, she received a college scholarship and attended Bethel and then graduated from Augsburg in 1939.  She then started her teaching career, beginning with teaching English.  She married her husband Richard W. Carpenter on July 17, 1954 in Mora, Minnesota and they moved to Forest Lake where she became the first full-time librarian for the Forest Lake school district, finishing her career in 1977 at Southwest Junior High.  Richard preceded her in death on January 15, 1985. Thea loved her teaching career and enjoyed each and every student that passed through her classroom or the library.  She was inducted into the Forest Lake Hall of Fame in 2011.

Thea loved to travel and visited many places in the United States visiting family and seeing the sights. She visited Europe four times, where each time included a visit to her ancestral area in Norway with many enjoyable times spent with the relatives there.  She also loved needlepoint, quilting, reading, and spending time with family and friends.  She was a member of the Baptist church and her church was very important to her and she was very active there, as long as she was able.

She is survived by her daughter Diane and many other family and friends.  Also surviving her are her beloved kitties that have made her life very enjoyable in these last years. It has been a blessing that she has been able to live out her life at home with the help of Visiting Angels.

The family will greet friends from 2:00-4:00 p.m., Sunday, April 10, 2022 at Mattson Funeral Home, 343 North Shore Drive, Forest Lake.  Private interment will be held at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Thea Carpenter, please visit our flower store.

Service Schedule

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Sunday, April 10, 2022

2:00 - 4:00 pm (Central time)

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7601 34th Ave South

, Minneapolis, MN 55450

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