Daniel Tristian Carpenter

Daniel Tristian Carpenter was born March 10, 1942, in Oberlin, OH, to Alvin Daniel Carpenter and Betty Jane Schweinfurth Carpenter, their first child. He grew up in Grafton, OH, and graduated from Elyria High School in 1960. He was close to his brother, Dave, who was a year younger, and his sister, Sharon, who was three years younger. Much later, a brother and sister were added to the family.

He married Donna Marie Wolff on April 19, 1963. Together they lived in OH, NY, PA, VA, and NC, raising one daughter and three sons. He supported the educational efforts of his children, who earned degrees from Atlantic Christian College, Duke University, University of Vermont, and Wake Forest University.

When God called him to the ministry shortly after he was married, Dan entered Baptist Bible Seminary in Johnson City, NY, and worked to support his wife and two children through his years there, at such jobs as putting up fences and providing night security for a resort in the Pocono Mountains. He also pastored a church in the Pennsylvania mountains where seminary students and local residents worshipped together. A gifted singer, he held powerful Sunday evening song services that would continue into the night, as he led singing and Donna played the piano, singing anything requested.

He had a heart for missions and was able to minister in a migrant camp in Pennsylvania while in seminary and later was able to minister for some time in Malawi, Africa. He served for 60 years in various assemblies in PA, OH, VA, NC as pastor, which was his life’s priority. Because God called him to small assemblies, he also maintained full-time jobs while pastoring and became a knowledgeable specialist in the lithographic and flexographic printing industries.

After moving their young family from place to place in their first years, he and Donna raised their four children in Madison, VA from 1973, where he pastored, worked at a magazine printing company, and enjoyed such things as being the head of Little League Football, caring for the family’s German Shepherd dogs, Gretchen and Pretzel, and raising a vegetable garden. Dan said the best thing about serving in Virginia was that God brought all of his children to His kingdom, and he had the privilege of baptizing them in the Rapidan River. He also got to know many brother pastors at the Sovereign Grace Bible Conference that he spoke at in Rocky Mount, NC every summer; these men became his closest friends, and he looked forward to worshipping and fellowshipping with them. God knit his heart in a special bond with Pastor Hubert Davis of Farmville, VA, with whom he was in close fellowship until Pastor Davis was called home.

In 1984, when the church he pastored in Virginia folded, he was called by Temple Bible Church in Rocky Mount, NC, to be their pastor, and believing this to be God’s direction, he and his family moved there, and he served as their pastor for his last 40 years. Most of his work life he spent at Carolina Industrial Resources in Rocky Mount, NC as their top flexographic printing salesman and flexo specialist.

The last 25 years of his life were full of challenging physical conditions requiring countless hospital stays for unexplained intense migraines, and for numerous surgeries for back, colon, cranium, heart, leg, and foot. His daughter, Michele, and grandson, Jasper, led his care through it all. In September 2024, circulation to his foot was completely cut off which made him fall, and as he proceeded through complications and interventions, hospital and rehab care, his goal was to return home if the Lord was willing. God amazingly brought him through so many challenges his final year.

While in recovery at a rehab and healthcare facility in Richmond, VA, God brought Dan into his eternal home on Saturday, September 20, 2025, as his blood pressure dropped and then stopped totally. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, as God kept him. His body was laid to rest in Washington Memorial Park in Sandston, VA.

Dan was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Donna; parents, Alvin and Betty; sisters, Sharon and Linda; brother, Donald; and sister-in-law, Elaine. Those left to cherish his memory include his daughter and grandson, Michele A. and Jasper J. Carpenter Cruz of North Carolina; sons, Frank B. Carpenter (Cheryl) of Colorado, Andrew W. Carpenter (Lorrie) of Missouri, Marc D. Carpenter (Gena) of Vermont; grandchildren, Seth Carpenter and Jaren Carpenter of Illinois, Geneva Carpenter Burns(David) of Missouri, Grace Carpenter, Matthew Carpenter, and Benjamin Carpenter of Vermont, Kieriana Carpenter and Andrew Carpenter of Missouri; his brother, Dave (Elaine) of New Jersey; nephews and nieces in Connecticut, New Jersey, Kentucky, including his favorite niece, Sherry Lawson (Cole) of Kentucky; as well as close brothers and sisters in Christ in North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and in India.