Kathryne Carpenter, Dunwoody, Chamblee High School and Sears on Ponce
I shared a photo of Kathryne Carpenter and her 1928 Chamblee High School graduation class in December of 2023. Here is more about her life, which extends beyond her birthplace of Dunwoody. Carpenter was born in 1909 to Effie Spruill Carpenter and Ambrey Carpenter Sr. She also lived with her grandmother Amanda Carpenter and older sister Lucy. Her younger brother Ambrey Jr. was born six years after her. All three children were born at home and delivered by Dr. Puckett of Dunwoody. Ambrey Sr. was born in the same 1800s home.
“I’ve only lived on this spot of ground,” Carpenter shared. The family home was on the southeast corner of Tilly Mill Road and Mount Vernon Road.
Kathryne Margaret Carpenter rode the Roswell Railroad to shop in Atlanta, traveled in a Model T, graduated from Chamblee High School in 1928 and worked at Sears on Ponce de Leon Avenue. Thanks to an interview conducted by Lenore G. Whitley for the Dunwoody Crier in 1995, her memories are preserved. Carpenter was 85 years old in 1995. (Dunwoody Crier archives held by Dunwoody Preservation Trust)
The Carpenters were farmers with land on either side of Mount Vernon Road and both sides of Tilly Mill Road. According to Carpenter, “We raised all our vegetables. We just about raised everything we ate.” They kept chickens, cows, and hogs. After school, she would change clothes, get some food and begin her chores. (Dunwoody Crier, April 20, 1978, “Happy Birthday Effie).
Kathryne went to Dunwoody Grammar School through seventh grade and Chamblee High School, the only high school in north DeKalb County, through eleventh grade. Her brother Ambrey Jr. played basketball at Chamblee.
Before her family had a car, she rode the Roswell Railroad from Dunwoody to Chamblee and then boarded the train to Atlanta to go shopping. Ambrey Sr. sometimes drove the children to school with a mule and buggy until the family purchased a Model T in 1925. The car often got stuck in the mud on an unpaved Mount Vernon Road, sometimes requiring the children to help push.
Chamblee High School 1928 graduation. Kathryne is in the middle of the back row. (Photo from the Anderson family)
Effie Spruill Carpenter told Kathryne the story of the first time she saw a car on Mount Vernon Road. The year was 1904, the same year Lucy Carpenter was born.
After high school, Kathryne Carpenter worked in the mail room at Sears Roebuck on Ponce de Leon Avenue. According to the U. S. Census of 1950, she is working in the mail order department. Kathryne considered her coworkers family and stayed in touch when she retired after 35 years.
In 1949, when Ambrey Sr. died, Kathryne and her mother built a new home where the original farmhouse sat. Kathryne convinced her mother they should rebuild to have modern conveniences such as central heat.
Kathryne lived until 2004. Her mother died in 1990 at the age of 101. Kathryne, her parents, and several other family members are buried in the New Hope Cemetery on Chamblee Dunwoody Road.