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DID SCHOOL DAYS CAST SHADOWS OF TRAGEDY LATER?VirginiaCarpenterFoundHappiness An Elusive'Thing4Two years ago Virginia Carpenter, attractive Texarkana school girl, arrived in Denton to go to eallege. Perhaps 30 minutes after she arrived here she disappeared. Her trail ended after a cab driver let her out in front of her TSCW dormitory. What really did happen to Virginia Carpenter? Here, tracing Virginia's school days, is the third of a series of special articles on Denton’s most baffling unsolved mystery.r BOB BROCChronicle Staff1950 by BobCarpenterclassesInsteadROUNDABOUTTOWN*./ R. J. (BOB) EDWARDSteachers notedamount of commonschool did she really beginto take part m school activities. And then it was vations.She tired easily and when she was tired a slight limp showed up in her right leg—a leg left slightly shorter by a disease contracted as a child. This limp embarassed herand it wasn’t until she was in high school that she overcame her self-consciousnessShe attended high school in Texarkana, Ark., because awent there.and then not completely.high schoolcousin of hersEntering intoactivities, Virginia soon got a bid from every sorority and joined one of them—over the half-hearted protests of her father.She joined the band and became a majorette. In her scrapbook.laboratory technician training. This would require lots of science —something she hadn’t had In high school.TSCW la 1945This time she entered Texas State College for Women in September. 1945.Again an unusual turn of events was shaping up that was to changeher plans.Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.-Psalm 103-13.The heavenly father heals our wounds and diseases. He is closer to us than earthly parents.which Mr,. C»r,*.nt,r Mill I, ^ /'brU4^ iU h«‘“forced Mrs. Carpenter to sell her1COLLEGE OUTING — This wasthe last picture taken of Virginia Carpenter. It was made by a friend at Texarkana Junior College a yearly* pier, so at Oamger-fleld. The same day Virginia got second degree sunburn.close at hand, is a picture of her in front of the band, dressed in the majorette’s short skirt, white boots and plumed hat. She was easy to pick out of the group because of her height, (only five feet two inches) and brunette hair which came down to her shoulders and big, deep-set brown eyes— inherited from her mother.It was in June, 1944, that Virginia graduated from high school and made plans to enter the University of Arkansas In the fall to study journalism.After one year at th* university Virginia came home. She told her mother she wanted to go intoinsurance business. On her way through Denton to a hospital at Temple, she stopped off to seeVirginia.Recalling her visit, Mrs. Carpenter told us:“It wasn’t my intention for Virginia to leave school then, but as we sat in her room talking. Virginia burst into tears: ’Mother, do you realise how hard you are making it for you to be down there alone and not knowing for sure if you are coming back,** How can you expect me to study for the next two weeks when you are ail I have?’ They were on their way to Temple together next morning.As Walker Jagoe, chairman ofthe highway committee of the Denton Chamber d Commerce could not get away, Roundabout, vice chairman of the committee, was delighted to go to Austin with Chamber of Commerce Manager Otis L. Fowler to appear before the State Highway Commission The purpose of the appearance was to petition the State Highway Commission to ask that Highway 34, a state highway, be designated as a federal highway. Highway S3 starts at Texarkana and goes on through Sherman,Gainesville and west and Highway34 is routed to the south of that highway, though reaching the same points further out in West Texas. The federal designation was asked, as it is believed, eves known, that a federally designated highway will attract more traffic than will just a State designation. Denton Chamber of Commerce joined other chambers and representatives along the present designated 34.tMrs. Carpenter underwent major surgery and a week later Virginia had an attack of appendicitis andalso had to be operated on. In a month both mother and daughter were able to go home.Then love struck the 19-year-old Virginia. It was Mac. an Aggie who had carried Virginia and her mother home from the hospital. Before he left to go back to College Station after leaving the convalescents, the wedding date had been set.But again happiness wasn't in the cards for Virginia.Says her mother:“I loved Mac because of his finequalities and because he was so good to me, but I couldn’t see their two personalities living togetherIn harmony.Well, when a country boy likeRoundabout goes to the capttol city, he is most likely to make a faux pas or so. The first one. and the only one we trust, is when we met our longtime friemWvS*aul Wakefield of Austin, one or tht big political boys erf Tfcxaa and the Nation. We had known Paul as “Colonel for a good many years, so we said. “Howdy, Colonel. Paul is now ‘General’’ Wakefield, a title he wears well, as he is one of the most engaging personalities it has been our pleasure to know.SORBANNUAL PICTUREappeared in the 1946 DaedalianCarpenteromen yearbook. She started here in Septemberattended one semester when she dropped back in 1948—but never checked in.♦TEXAS LAUGHSBOYCESlop It! We HaiEngagement BrokenThe grandparents didn't approveof the wedding either and just three weeks before the date set, Virginia saw Mac and broke their engagement.In June Mrs. Carpenter—recovered now—went to work for an automobile dealer and Virginia went to work for a clinic. She wanted to be a nurse but again the right leg had to be taken into consideration. She knew she couldn’t stand the strenuous hours ou her feet so she decided to become a technician,Other men to appear, along with Denton representatives, were A. D. Cummings, president of the Ol-nev Chamber of Commerce; WorthL. Coffey formerly of Aubrey, manager of the Oiney Chamber of Commerce, W, s. Whaley, Fort Worth, Joe Moore, manager of the Greenville C of C; Pane hall Crain, manager Jacksboro C of C, A. H Hall, president of the Jacksboro C of C: O. McDaniel, manager of the Seymour C of C; O. W. Cox of Seymour, a county commissioner. Telegrams were received from Senator George Mof-See ROUNDABOUT. Page 314-INCHALLGALTo Work With HerAbe Martin, the sage of the Thieves added insult to injury to decade preceding World War I. Mls ’ Mary Ingram. 1005 Denton, declared that money never made Saturday.a fool of anybody; it only showed Two weeks ago Mrs Ingram, linoli ini ud for what he had been all typist for the Record-ChronicleIt was the fact that medical science could find no cure for her father that caused Virginia to want to be a technician more than anything else, Mrs. Carpenter revealed. She felt the field of Journalism would satisfy her looking to beof service to humanity.Mrs- Carpenter wanted Virginia to return to her school work, but she was concerned about finances,the time.And Abe, master of compression. once told a short story in three line* when he reported that a Cadillac had been stolen Sunday from in front of the county poorhouae while the car’s owner was visiting his mother.her carplace alongside the pis has not been recoveredparking although her mother insisted thatSaturday she borrowed a friend’s car to do some grocery shopping.Site put her groceries In the back seat of the car and left on another s _r'■ w w I — ^errand.When she came back — yep. the groceries were gone.“she would worry about that Virginia refused to return to school and continued to work at the clinic until she accepted a position with an insurance firm at a betterIVirginia hatin’t given up her de-» become a technician, butGALVESTON, June 3-^B-The biggest rain in 50 years flooded this island resort and port today. Galveston emerged soaked and muddy~but lucky,The flat island’s worst drenching since the deadly hurricance of 1900 left no known dead or injured. Merchants, busily swabbing out their stores late today, scaled downan early estimate of $1,000,000damage to about $400,000.The ram measured 14,21 inches on the western edge of town. High tide at 8:17 a.m. add to the flood condition*. The rain was within 44 inch of the all-time 14-hour record-recorded during the 1900 storm in which 5,000 to 7.000 persons died.Water 3 1 2 feet deep was leftstanding tn the 18-biock businessdistrict after nine houix of wind driven ram clogged storm sewers. Nothing moved through theSee VIRGINIA•Ur,mmIk......491 •H — - a*
Newspaper Details
Denton Record Chronicle
Denton, Texas, US
Sun, Jun 04, 1950
Page 1
Full Page
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TX, USA 10 Feb 2021
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