Judge William Randolph Carpenter Jr.

Judge William (Bill) Randolph Carpenter, Jr., 92, a third-generation lawyer, dedicated his life to public service in Topeka, KS, and in Naples, FL, his retirement home. He died in Lee’s Summit, MO on March 9th.

Judge Carpenter was predeceased by his grandfather, William Herbert Carpenter, parents Helen Williams Carpenter and William Randolph Carpenter (who was a member of Congress from 1932 to 1936), sister Jeanne Antoinette Carpenter Morris, brother-in-law Dr. “Bud” Morris, and nephews Ward Simmons and Tom Morris.

Bill was born on May 30, 1932 in Marion, KS, where he spent an idyllic childhood with two loving parents and his older beloved sister. He attended Marion schools, graduated in 1950 from Topeka High where many years later he was grand marshal of his 50th class reunion.

Bill began his college years at Yale University where he was a proud member of Mory’s Association with its Temple Bar where the Whiffenpoofs sang. He graduated in 1954.

After two years in Army intelligence, Bill finished his tour as a first lieutenant and then sadly his father, William Randolph Carpenter, Sr. passed away in 1956.

That fall Bill started the first of his three years at Harvard Law School. He graduated in the spring of 1959.

Bill joined the Carpenter & Carpenter law firm in Marion and then moved to Topeka, KS, where he was Shawnee County district judge for more than 30 years. He started as the youngest judge and retired as the longest-serving district court judge in Kansas.

He was chief judge of the Shawnee County District Court for 13 years and retired in 1995. He served as president of the Kansas District Judges Association for two years and was on the faculty of the National Judicial College in Reno, NV.

In an interview by the Topeka Capital Journal, Bill said, “When I arrived (at the district court), I didn’t have a desk or books.” The article described how Bill had a hand in preserving Gage Park when heirs of the Gage family, who gave 80 acres of land, sought to recover the park.

In Bill’s retirement to Naples, FL., he practiced mediation for 10 years and then was elected chair of the Pelican Bay Foundation board. The board functioned as the quasigovernmental entity in charge of the community’s policies and rules, and amenities – beach restaurants, community center, boardwalks, sidewalks, berms, parks and lakes. Pelican Bay is a large development with 15,000 residents.

His judicial temperament and mediation experience served him well as he calmed Pelican Bay’s then frayed relations with the adjacent City of Naples and with the county government.

Bill was an active member and past president of the Yale Club of Southwest, FL, and was active with the Harvard Club of Naples.

During all his time, he was a good and faithful steward of the Carpenter farms in his original hometown of Marion, KS. He had many friends in Marion, Topeka, Naples and all over the country.

He is survived by three children, son Randolph Carpenter (Julie), daughter Carolyn Frischling (Michael), son Charles Carpenter, nieces Anne Cox (Tim), Julie Plourde (Alan) and Nancy Cox (Clay), and grandchildren Brendon Carpenter, Maria Frischling, Anthony Frischling, Blake Carpenter, and Alaina Carpenter.

Bill was proud of his public service and said he tried to help people throughout his life – as a judge, mediator, mentor, camp counselor for three summers during high school; business manager of his high school newspaper; boy scout, and years later as an adult boy scout division leader.

One of Bill’s favorite sayings was, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” No one is perfect, but his friends saw him as wise and good.

There will be a graveside service at the Marion, Kansas Cemetery on Saturday March 22nd at 1:00 pm officiated by Rev. Tobias Schlingensiepen.