I went to Posey Carpentier’s memorial services on Friday, April 18. I did not know her as well as many of the people who were gathered there. Posey was my mentor as a novitiate realtor some 15 years ago. I drove down PCH with the ink barely dry on my newly acquired license, looking for a place to hang it. Posey’s small office on La Costa beach was the first place I stopped. I was met by the proprietress herself, looking elegant in dove gray leather pants and mohair sweater that matched her regal mane of silver hair. She was quite a handsome woman and I would have never figured her to be twice my age. I detected the slow and deliberate enunciation of a refined Texan accent and asked her if she was from there. Intrigued that I had pin-pointed it so easily, she casually hiked her hip up on the edge of her desk and gave me the eye. She said, “Realtor is pronounced: REELTOR, not, RELATOR, and don’t ever get it wrong.” She handed me her book, told me to read it and told me I was hired. I was thrilled to the bone and I subsequently read every single word of her book that very night. Parts of her philosophy sticks with me to this day. I take time off to restore myself so that I can search for and find the creative satisfaction that I need to live a life and work in this business. I have aspired to work very hard, raise three children and be above all as gracious, fun-loving and sincere as Posey was. She was loaded with class, smart as hell and filled with life!
My daughter who was a baby at the time has been accepted to two fine art colleges this fall, Parsons School of Design and Otis College of Art. I do not pretend that it was all Posey’s influence, but the knowledge that a woman who is also a busy mom can be as successful as she wants to be was transferred to me from her as if by osmosis. I never doubted it for a minute for I had a living, breathing example standing right in front of me. The real estate business gave me a new beginning here on this earth that somehow, today, this day in particular I saw clearly the depth of the power of this singularly special woman. Today I saw that I could afford to pay for either one of these schools for my daughter because Posey helped me to have the confidence necessary to be successful. It dawned on me, like a bright, white, light, making me shiver from the realization of the effect she had on me in that very short time. I am grateful. Posey is a part of who I am and I’d like to believe that I am a lot like her.
Good bye, girl-friend, I am off to the library to pick up a copy of “The Great Gatsby” (Posey’s favorite novel) to see what you liked about it. I am certain when you met God at the intersection between heaven and earth the other day he welcomed you with a honey-dipped Texas twang. “Come on in, darling, you’ve got a green light.”
Teresa Penner