“We just need to hang in there, and the Lord will bless us with what we need to be blessed with,” advised Ricky Carpenter. “We have a great community with a lot of good folks, and we never know when we will be blessed with something.”
No matter what has taken place in his life, Ricky has always felt blessed and understood the importance of having faith. Looking back, he can see where things that some may not think are a blessing at the time actually is a big blessing, such as education. He truly valued his education growing up.
“I started school in Pachuta and went to first and second grade at the Pachuta School,” recalled Ricky. “Then, they consolidated into Quitman, so I started going to Quitman in the third grade. I graduated from Quitman in 1971.”
When he graduated, the Vietnam War was taking place, and many young men were being drafted to go overseas. He went ahead and started his college career, but he would see a different type of blessing by the time he finished his first two years of college.
“I started at Jones Junior College and went there for two years. In January of my second year there, I received a notice. This is when the Vietnam War was going on, and I received orders to report to Jackson for a physical. I was classified as eligible for the draft. They gave me a deferment until May so that I could finish college, and then I would be eligible for the draft,” expressed Ricky. “President Richard Nixon ended up ending the draft, so I didn’t have to get drafted by May. I can only imagine how different my life would be today if things had gone differently and I would have had to be in the military.”
Everything in his life has not always been perfect. His parents were divorced, and he and his siblings stayed with their father for the first part of his life. Despite that, he was able to find joy in life and enjoy his childhood.
“My parents were divorced, and I grew up with my daddy, brother, and sister in the Nancy community. As a kid, we had neighbors and toys to play with, and we would go to the creek. Going swimming was the biggest thing we did. We also went hunting and fishing. Later on, when I was a little older, we would go to Lake Bounds. There was a business that would run a swimming place, and people from Laurel and all over would come there. We would just stay at the swimming hole a lot,” remembered Ricky. “We would usually stay with my mother on the weekends. During the summer months, we would ride our bikes to the pool over by Burlington in Stonewall when we were with my mother. You could ride your bike all over Stonewall. Mr. Sam would come around with snowballs every Saturday.”
When he was in tenth grade, Ricky moved in with his mom, and that is when he started working. Since then, he has been a hard worker and done whatever he could to provide for his family.
“When I was in tenth grade, I moved to Stonewall with my mother. When I moved to Stonewall, I went to work at Dan Roberson’s IGA,” stated Ricky. “I lived in Stonewall until Regina and I got married in 1973, and I took a job with Fred’s Dollar Store. My first position there was as a manager trainee in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We moved to Tuscaloosa in ’73 and were there for a little over a year. Then, a position opened in Meridian as an assistant manager. I came back to Meridian, and we lived there for six or seven months before moving back to Stonewall in 1975. That’s when they were planning on opening up a store here in Quitman. They made me manager at the store in Quitman.”
Since Fred’s closed down, he has been the manager of The Pharmacy in Quitman. As much work as he already does being manager, Ricky also still has an active leadership role in the community. He has also held different leadership roles in the past.
“I am serving as an alderman for the Town of Stonewall. I just started my sixth term,” declared Ricky. “For a couple of years, I served in the Chamber of Commerce. I served on the Economic Development Board for three years. One year, I served as chairman of the Boy Scouts in Clarke County, and my main goal there was fundraising.”
Ricky loves the community is in, which is why he has served as an alderman for so long. He loves to be able to help and work with those around him. In fact, he volunteers with the local fire department and received an education so that he has an active role in helping the community whenever there is a medical emergency.
“In 1978, I joined the Stonewall Volunteer Fire Department,” said Ricky. “In 1983, I went to EMT school and became a basic EMT. I volunteered with Enterprise Ambulance Service when they had their ambulance. I’m an EMT with the Stonewall Fire Department now.”
Although he loves being able to work with others, there is something else that Ricky truly enjoys: being with his family. He and his wife have two daughters and two amazing grandkids that they enjoy spoiling and spending time with. Although he and Regina had their own little craft business together at one point, he now prefers to just be home with his family and working around the house whenever he has any free time.
“My hobby would be working in the yard and gardening. It’s just something I like to do. Occasionally I’ll go fishing, but most of the time I’m just working around the house,” informed Ricky. “I got into woodworking one time, and my wife got into wreath making. We opened up a little business and went to flea markets and things to sell our crafts. We did that for a few years, but it got to be a lot on us with kids.”
No matter what has taken place in his life, Ricky counts himself blessed to have his family and the amazing community where he lives. He will continue to enjoy all the time he can with his family and just keep trusting that the Lord will send the next blessing at just the right time, no matter what is taking place around him.
