Betty Carpenter, left, with Warren AVe Pee Wee football player Jack Pauly, 7, before practice at Carperter Field on Tuesday. Carpernter devoted 41 years to the Bremerton youth organization. LARRY STEAGEL | KITSAP SUN

The late Frank Kedrick gave birth to it, nourished it for many years, and when he left the Warren Avenue Pee Wees were sustained by a slew of good people, not the least of which were the Carpenters — Murrel and wife Betty.

Murrel died of a heart attack 14 years ago, but Betty, sorrowful as she was, kept on giving to the organization. Sometimes she was a lonely figure at the clubhouse at the corner of 11th and Warren Avenue in Bremerton, doing what she always did, gluing the pieces together so kids could have a place to play.

In this case, it's Carpenter Field.

Betty worked the concession stand at the last Warren Avenue football game of the season on Oct. 25, and then walked away, to where she doesn't even know. Her 41 years of giving will be honored at a public-invited retirement gathering next Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Bremerton High School by local dignitaries, including Bremerton mayor Cary Bozeman and Bremerton football coach Nate Gillam — a Warren Avenue guy — and then she will be left to herself.

"I'm wondering if anybody has any hot tips so I can get a job," she quipped of her future. "I have to have a couple small surgeries. I'm going on a couple trips. I don't know what I will do. I will think of something. The answer to staying healthy is to stay busy. That's my philosophy."

Warren Avenue without a Carpenter will be something new, although one of Betty's seven children, Dean, will continue to coach basketball in the organization. But it still will be strange not to see her around.

One of the trips Betty, 78, will make is the annual visit to her home state of Minnesota. She will go there for three weeks and hang out with relatives, just like she always does. And she will make the sad journey to her old hometown of Wheaton to visit the grave of son Kenneth, who died at nine months of age.

"It's something you never get over," said Betty, who also lost grandson, Richard Carpenter Jr., 12 years ago when he was killed while riding his bicycle. "It's so hard to take."

It was June of 1966 when Betty and her remaining brood of seven kids — four boys and three girls — jumped into their car and headed west from Minnesota to join Murrel who was already in Bremerton and working for Lockheed Shipyard in Seattle.

"Seven kids and I in a broken-down old station wagon," Betty said. "I had never been beyond four miles out of the state of Minnesota. When we got to the (Rocky) Mountains, the road was one-way each way and I was scared to death (oldest son Edward, who was 17, did the driving). I looked up and thought the sky was going to fall on me. It was awful."

The Carpenters got involved in the Warren Avenue Pee Wees immediately. Murrel eventually became the long-time club president, building the second story of the clubhouse and the west addition almost by himself.

Betty served on the Kitsap County Pee Wees Central Council for 25 years, half of that time as the treasurer, and over the years held every Warren Avenue office except vice president.

For years, the Carpenters were heavily involved in club fund-raisers, including fireworks and Christmas trees.

And over the years four of her kids — Cheryl, Rick, Ray and Dean — coached at Warren. The kids, of course, have helped out around the clubhouse, including helping their parents do many of the things they did in the organization.

It was a tough blow when Murrel died.

"Oh yes, yes, yes, I miss him," she said. "Lots of times I chew him out when things don't go right. I'll say, 'What's the matter, why aren't you helping me here?' We had our ups and downs, but we had a good life together.

"I'm lucky that I have my kids."

Betty, who lives with a heart pacemaker installed after she suffered a cardiac arrest in 1992 while driving home, says she didn't have a full-time job because Murrel wanted her home to take care of the kids. But she did volunteer at the old Smith school and is proud of the time she volunteered with the local cancer drive.

"Winnie Treumper asked me if I would be west Bremerton co-chair, so I helped her for five years," Betty said. "It's good that people are out doing these things."

Just as it was good that Betty and Murrell were around to help Warren Avenue and the many kids who have come through that program over the years. It's hard to replace good help, but Betty says the organization — which recently merged with Westgate Pee Wees — is in good hands.

"It's a good time to quit," she said. "We merged with Westgate, they got a lot of people and kids, had elections, got a good board."

Betty will be around if there's a need for her help. But she doesn't expect them to call.

"We've enjoyed it," said Betty, speaking for the entire Carpenter family.

The feeling is mutual, I'm sure.

Terry Mosher is a former Sun sportswriter who is publisher/editor of the monthly Sports Paper. E-mail him at bigmosher@msn.com.