New Bedford, Mass. — May 26, 2015 — When the Carpenter family gathered on the waterfront Monday morning to pose for a group photo after the annual Fishermen’s Memorial Service hosted by the New Bedford Port Society, it took a few minutes to get everyone positioned.

There were a lot of people to fit in the frame.

At least 15 immediate and extended family members of late fisherman Joseph F. Carpenter Jr., traveled from various parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island to attend Monday morning’s service on Pier 3, as they said they do every year.

This year, though, marked 20 years since Carpenter’s death in September 1995, when he was aboard a boat named Rapture. Cheryl, one of his five sisters, said Monday that Carpenter got tangled in a line, and indicated the weather was rough.

The family didn’t talk very much about the exact circumstances of his death. Instead, they enjoyed their time together and shared the opportunity to remember Carpenter, whose name was one of more than 300 read under sunny skies Monday by the Hon. Armand Fernandes and Pat Hunt of the Port Society.

 

 

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