Jenny Carpenter

Jenny Rose (Behnke) Carpenter, 49, of Sheboygan Falls, passed away Friday, November 7, 2014 surrounded by family at her home. Jenny was born on January 23, 1965 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin to Verlin and Janice (Greuel) Behnke. The family was completed by one younger sister, Leanne, who now has a teenage daughter, Valerie. Jenny attended Lincoln Erdman Elementary School, Horace Mann Junior High School, and Howards Grove High School, graduating in 1983. She attended the UW-Sheboygan and graduated from Lakeland College with both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Education. She worked as an English as a Second Language Teacher for the Sheboygan Area School District, Lakeshore Technical College, and Lakeland College. The most important events of her life took place with the adoption of her son, Caleb, from Cambodia at the age of four months. He's an awesome young man of fourteen years now. For two wonderful years, Caleb and Jenny lived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, his birth country, and desired to learn about and help the people there. Jenny kept a blog at carpentersincambodia.blogspot.com, recording those experiences. She had been revising it with more details and had hoped to publish it in the future. She continued to write at the same website for those who are struggling with divorce, cancer, loss, and other things. She hoped this might encourage others on their own life journeys. Jenny had future plans: She wanted to travel to Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) to teach English for a short-term. It's what she trained for. She wanted to travel to Turkey to encourage/visit her Turkish friend/sister, Sebahat, who is also sick. She wanted to be a writer and publish a book. She wanted to make more memories with her incredible son. She hoped to return to Cambodia and live/serve there perhaps when Caleb was grown. Her heart truly lived there. She wanted to do what God put her on this life to do, which is really all we want, isn't it? Jenny had a faith in God. He gets to make the final choice. She's fine with whatever decision He makes. She would like to thank all the wonderful people who thought about her during this rough time, prayed for her, sent cards, gave gift cards, dropped off groceries, provided financial help, provided medical assistance, visited, and gave her emotional/spiritual strength. Jenny was blessed with many brothers and sisters in Christ worldwide and especially from the Sheboygan Church of Christ and the Southside Alliance Church. A memorial service will be held at 12:00 pm on Saturday, December 13, 2014 at Southside Alliance Church, 4321 County Road A, Sheboygan. Pastor John Teschan will officiate. A time of visitation and support will be held on Saturday from 10:00 am until the time of service. A memorial fund has been established in her name.