M.W. William F. Carpenter Biography 1997

William Francis Carpenter

Born William Francis Carpenter in Dudley, Mass. August 23, 1923, Bill came to Connecticut with his family as a toddler and grew up in the Wilson area. He attended the John Fitch High School in Windsor and following his graduation in 1941, went to work for the state. Eventually he became a police dispatcher, but in an earlier office post he met the young woman whose heart and hand he'd win before he went to war, Barbara H. Links, better known as Bobbie. Engaged before he left in March 1943, they were married June 15, 1946, five months after his discharge. The couple raised three children, Janice (Mrs. Dan) Cyr of Manchester, mother of Danielle, Kimberly and Melissa Cyr; Donald, a Waterbury police officer, who with wife Patricia has a daughter, Kristina, who shares her grandfather's birthday; and Randall, who lives in Kernersville, North Carolina with wife Laura and their two children, Jacob and Amy. The Carolinas appeal to Bill and Bobbie also. Bill's an avid golfer and he and Bobbie enjoy vacationing in Myrtle Beach.

A lot of his special presence is probably from the military, for Bill wore a uniform much of his adult life. A GI in World War II, he served in six Pacific campaigns-­from New Guinea to the Philippines--and had earned a sergeant's stripe by the time he was discharged in January 1946. Less than two years later--following a stint as a unit administrator in the state's Military Department--he was in khaki again, this time as a sergeant in the Connecticut National Guard. Recalled to active duty in September 1950 during the Korean Conflict, Bill went to Germany as a Warrant Officer with the 43rd Infantry Division. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in May 1953 and before he retired in September 1975 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Infantry, he had been a Company Commander, Operations Officer, Battalion Commander, and Commandant of the Connecticut National Guard Military Academy. He received many awards and decorations--including the Army's Meritorious Service Medal.

During his military career, he graduated from the Infantry Company Officer Course and the Advanced Officer Infantry Course at the Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He completed specialized courses at Ft. Gordon, Georgia; Ft. Knox, Kentucky; Ft. Monroe, Virginia, and the Command and General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

I've lived in tents half my life," mused Bill of his military background, begun in the Army Air Corps "before there was an Air Force," he said. It's obvious he loved the life, and in his enthusiasm--and the unique position he held as commandant training enlisted personnel to become officers, and non-commission officers for promotion-- Bill was able to provide real encouragement and example for others of similar persuasion. He trained for command--and it has served him, and Masonry, well.

Although Bill had a grandfather who had been a Mason in Massachusetts, Bill credits Bobbie's father, the late Fred Links, a Past Master of St. John's 4, for his interest as an adult. Bill joined Wyllys Lodge No.99--which has since merged with St. John's Lodge No.4, and in 1977 was elected Worshipful Master. One year later he was appointed Associate Grand Marshal and in July 1989 became Grand Junior Steward. Bill was installed as 151st Grand Master of Masons in Connecticut on April 9, 1997, and is one of those people who stands out anywhere. Granted, he has an edge physically with a trim, six-foot, two-inch frame, a healthy thatch of white hair, neatly groomed, and the ruddy face of a man with a year-round love of the outdoors. But the men of Masonry who elected Bill to head their ranks did so for reasons clear to anyone who knows him: as a leader, he's a natural.

He belongs to a number of Appendant Bodies including the York Rite's Pythagoras-Welles Chapter, RAM, Wolcott Council, R&SM, and Washington Commandery, and the Scottish Rite's Charter Oak Lodge of Perfection, the Hartford Council, Princes of Jerusalem, Cyrus Goodell Chapter, Rose Croix, and the Nathan Hale Consistory, Valley of Hartford, and the Connecticut Consistory, Valley of Norwich. He has served as Most Wise Master of Cyrus Goodell, Secretary and Executive Committee Member of the Valley of Hartford, and as a member of the building committee for the new Scottish Rite Building in Newington. Today, he remains a Valley Trustee and a Scottish Rite Foundation Director and Trustee. He was created a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33rd Degree on September 24, 1980.

Bill belongs to Sphinx Temple and serves the Shrine as a member of the Directors' Staff, the Ritual Cast and the Oasis Club. He was appointed Marshal in 1979, and to the Divan in 1982. He was elected Potentate in 1988 and in 1992 became the first Commander of the Legion of Honor, a national organization of members who are military veterans. He is also a member of the invitational Royal Order of Jesters, St. Andrew's Conclave, Red Cross of Constantine, Royal Order of Scotland and the National Sojourners--whose presence on Army bases was commonplace when Bill was in the military.

On a personal level, Bill has been active in his church, the First Congregational of Wethersfield, having served as Chairman of the Property Committee, and as Deacon and Trustee. A longtime independent insurance agent, he was president of the Hartford Association of Independent Agents and a Director of the State Association of Independent Agents. He served as President of Independent Insurance Agents, Inc., a Hartford agency he helped to organize. An athlete from his youth when he played basketball, baseball and hockey, he put that interest to good use in Germany in the '50s to organize a hockey team of Yanks to provide practice for the local town players. Once home and settled, he got involved in the Hartford YMCA Athletic Club, the now-defunct Elmwood Community Club which organized civic improvements, and the Hayes-
+Velhage American Legion Post which he eventually led as Commander.

For his unselfish dedication to his country, his community, his church, family and this Fraternity of Freemasons in Connecticut, the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Connecticut is proud to present to Most Worshipful Brother William F. Carpenter

THE PIERPONT EDWARDS MEDAL IN BRONZE
FOR DISTINGUISHED MASONIC SERVICE