[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 7, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE LEGACY OF MR. AND MRS. BEN H. CARPENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KENNY MARCHANT

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 7, 2006

  Mr. MARCHANT. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to Mr. and 
Mrs. Ben H. Carpenter. Their lifelong dedication to improving lives and 
communities in North Texas will be sorely missed. Ben Carpenter passed 
last Friday, March 3, at his home in Dallas. His wife, Betty Dupree, 
followed him in death on Sunday, March 5.
  Mr. Carpenter's vision and astuteness as a business leader helped 
shepherd Dallas into a new role as an international city in the latter 
part of the 20th century. He ran one of the country's largest insurance 
companies, Southland Life Insurance, which was founded by his father, 
John Carpenter and later became Southland Financial Corp., for 30 
years. In 1959, he built the city's tallest skyscraper, the Southland 
Center, which is now the Adam's Mark Hotel.
  Mr. Carpenter's greatest legacy is Los Colinas, one of the most 
successful real estate developments in the United States. In the early 
1970s he launched a plan to turn his family ranch into a world class 
residential and commercial community. Las Colinas now houses some 
12,000 acres of apartments, homes, hotels, shopping centers, and 
company headquarters. The community is home to 40 Fortune 500 Companies 
today, including ExxonMobil, Nokia, Microsoft, and Kimberly Clark.
  Mr. Carpenter served his country during World War II as a volunteer 
in the Army. He was awarded a Silver Star for his heroics in the China-
Burma-India theater. Upon his graduation from the University of Texas 
at Austin in 1948, he married this lifelong love, Betty Ann Dupree.
  Mrs. Carpenter will also be remembered for her commitment to service 
and giving spirit. She served as an officer and board member in several 
charitable organizations, including the Child Guidance Center of Dallas 
and the Irving Community Hospital. An active Presbyterian, she and her 
husband donated land for the creation of two new Presbyterian churches 
in the Dallas area. They also funded the construction of the Carpenter 
Chapel at the Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
  Betty and Ben Carpenter were charitable contributors to multiple 
causes in North Texas. They provided land for the establishment of the 
Irving Arts Center and the Irving Community Hospital. Their generous 
gifts founded the Carpenter Family MBA Leadership Center and Carpenter 
Family MBA Leadership Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin, 
and the Ben H. and Betty Dupree Carpenter Endowment for Cardiovascular 
Research at the Heart, Lung, and Vascular Clinical Center of Excellence 
at St. Paul Hospital of Dallas.
  Ben and Betty Carpenter's endeavors in both the business and service 
worlds have left an indelible mark on the city of Dallas and the state 
of Texas. I honor their lives and their legacy; North Texas would not 
be what it is today without their contributions.

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