Valarie Kay Carpenter was born March 27, 1971, to Robert Holman, of Nashville, and Charlotte Smith Holman, of Sparta.
She died May 3, 2024, at the age of 53, after battling inflammatory breast cancer.
Valarie graduated from McGavock High School, in 1989, and from MTSU with a degree in finance. Through her career, she had two women in her life that mentored her: Karen Unland, whom she worked with for many years in real estate at George Thomas Realty and Eva Pulley in several accounting firms as a bookkeeper. For the past three years, Valarie worked for Greg McRay at the Foundation Group. As they specialized in nonprofits, she thoroughly enjoyed and had a passion for this work. She loved singing in the choir (even though she couldn’t carry a tune). She loved teaching kids in Bible Drill and helping with Operation Christmas Child at several churches she attended.
In addition to her father, Valarie was preceded in death by her grandparents, Arvil Dillon Smith and Addeane Howell Smith, of Sparta, Robert Gilliam and Ruby Gilliam, of Sparta, and Stanford Holman, of Sparta.
She is survived by her husband, R. David Carpenter, who she married on May 2, 1998. They celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary the day before she died. She has one son, Jonathan Carpenter, who is a junior at UT Knoxville. She was so proud of the man that he had become. Her mother, Charlotte Smith Holman, of Sparta; her brother, Rob (Charity) Holman; her nephew, Carter Holman; and niece, Harper Holman, all of Springdale, Arizona.
A celebration of life was 1 p.m., May 10, 2024, at Victory Baptist Church, with burial in Hermitage Memorial Gardens. Todd Capps officiated.
Arrangements by Bond Memorial Chapel, in Mt. Juliet.
