Pastor's Blog

Rita Sue (Ranager) Carpenter went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Monday, March 27, 2023, while surrounded by her loving family. Sue was born in the Central Community of George County, MS, on June 19, 1941, to the late Theodore R. and Mildred Cochran Ranager.

Sue was a lifelong and devoted member of East Moss Point Baptist Church, where she was actively involved in many areas of the church’s ministry. As youth leaders together, Larry and Sue mentored several generations of young people, pointing them to Christ and filling their lives with love and laughter. Sue served in Gideons International Auxiliary on both the local and state levels. She served in Public Health working for the MS State Department of Health for 29 years. Sue will be remembered for her love of Christ, her quest for JOY, her servant’s heart, her love for her family and friends, and for her wonderful sense of humor and adventure.

Left to cherish her memory are her loving husband of 61 years, Larry Carpenter; children, Deanna Wetterer, Dwayne (Angela) Carpenter, David Carpenter, and Donna Sue Medina; grandchildren, Jennifer (Jordon) Zirlott, Dana (Brittany) Wetterer, Miriah (Justin) Phares, and Savannah (Matthew) Towles; great-grandchildren, Andrew, John Luke, Rowan and Ella Claire Zirlott, Bly, Magnolia “Nola” and Cypress Phares, and Elizabeth Rose “Ellie” Wetterer; and brothers, Joe Henry Ranager and Julian (Evelyn) Ranager; along with a host of other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at Heritage Funeral Home in Escatawpa, MS. The funeral service will be held on Friday, March 31, 2023, at 3:00 pm with Bro. Richard Crews officiating. The family will accept friends from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. prior to the service. Interment will be held at Serene Memorial Gardens with her grandsons, Dana Wetterer, Jordon Zirlott, Justin Phares, and Matthew Towles, and family friends, Pat Fell and Richard Canfield, serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be her great-grandsons, Andrew, John Luke, and Rowan Zirlott.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Sue’s memory to Gideon International-Moss Point Camp, P.O. Box 1027, Escatawpa, MS, 39552-1027.

“Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her…Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:28 & 30