ELKO — The former longtime Nevada Assemblyman credited with helping bring Great Basin College and a convention center to Elko has died.
Officials at Burns Funeral Home confirmed that John C. Carpenter Jr. died on Saturday. He was 86.
The Elko Daily Free Press reports Carpenter was born in Fallon in 1930 and graduated from high school in Ely before moving to a sheep ranch in Elko. He served on the Elko County Commission before serving 24 years as a Republican in the Assembly. His tenure ended in 2010.
His successor, John Ellison, praised him as a family man whose work for the community included fighting for the payment in lieu of taxes program that supports rural local governments.
He and his wife Roseann raised seven children and owned several businesses.