Elisabeth Elfriede (Zachhuber) Carpenter

Elisabeth Elfreide (Freida) Carpenter, widow of Nollie Odell Carpenter, passed away at her home in Millry, Alabama, on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.

Mrs. Carpenter was born in Germany, December 8, 1931. She wore many hats during her lifetime…she was a wife, mother and grandmother, a great gran, and an aunt in her 90 years here on Earth.

Growing up as a child and then as a teenager in Germany during the war, she told of the many times when the only way of survival was to be locked away in the cellar to stay safe from the bombs which were falling outside her home. She remembered the times when there was hardly any food and her family would go and stand under a bridge and the American soldiers would drop cans of food which many times saved them from starving. She later met the love of her life, Nollie Odell Carpenter, on May 10, 1952.

After marriage, they were later deployed to Springfield, Massachusetts, stationed there for a year, and later were transferred to Vandenburg Air Force Base in California until 1964.

During this time, they had Peter, Donna, and Dean. They soon returned to Millry, Alabama. Frieda had a love for the outdoors, whether it was on her bike riding the old country dirt roads or digging in her many flower beds! She was an amazing seamstress and made many of her own clothes as well as those of her children.

Some remember her sitting in her swing while singing ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ and many other of the old red-back book hymns with her thick German accent. Sometimes, while singing in her native German language, no one knew what she was singing, and though we couldn’t understand any of it, it was beautiful to hear.

One neat thing her family enjoyed was when she called her family back in Germany...to hear them speaking their language and not knowing at all what she may have been saying about any of us!

She did love her ‘grans’ and ‘great-grans’! Knowing they were coming, she would fire up the oven to make everyone’s favorite, her famous chocolate chip cookies.

She was a lifetime member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.

Dean and Donna were faithful in taking care of Mrs. Frieda. She will be sadly missed.

Survived by:

Son - Dean Carpenter

Daughter - Donna (Ricky) Bickerstaff

Three grandchildren:

Jonathan Carpenter

Eric McIlwain

Richard Bickerstaff

Six great-grandchildren

Two great-great-grandchildren

Preceded in death by:

Husband - Nollie Odell Carpenter

Father - Rudolph Zachhuber

Mother - Betty Benict Zachhuber

Brother - Rudy Zachhuber

Brother - Kurt Zachhuber

Son - Peter Carpenter

A graveside service will be held Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm, September 30, 2022, at Pleasant Hill Baptist Cemetery in Millry, Alabama.

Rev. Leon Parnell officiating and St. Stephens Funeral Home directing.

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