Richard's Children

[andywithaz]

I was reading a forum at Leadsister.com and saw a thread about Richard's children. I had no idea he had children. I didn't even know he got married.(I don't know where I've been! ) Can anyone give me info?

 

[drmmergirl]

I think he has 4 children

 

[Geographer]

Richard married Mary Rudolf in 1984. They have at least 4 children (maybe 5?). You can see Mary in the "I Need to be In Love" video. She walks by Richard at the airport and smiles.

 

[jcolo1956]

Those of you who don't know this, Mary Rudolph's brother Mark was the Carpenter's Road manager from their touring days. And Mark and Mary are Richard and Karen's cousin from Agnes' side of the family. They are Bernice's kids. So Richard's wife Mary is also his cousin, which is allowed by law in California. Just a bit of trivia!

Jamie Colombo

 

[close2u]

Richard has five kids now -- Kristi Lynn, Traci Tatum, Mindi Karen, Colin Paul and Taylor Mary. An interesting bit of trivia... the family car's tag reads "RMKTMCT"!

Randy

 

[350hunny]

Do Mark and Mary look alike?
Maybe not quite like Karen and Richard do.
Coz I heard Mary is an adopted child but I'm not certain.

 

[Mark-T]

Geographer,
Its amazing what you learn on these boards! Thanks for sharing that info.
To everyone, thanks for making this a great place to come and swap ideas.
Mark

 

[PJ]

When Colin Paul Performed with Richard at 2003 Center Benefit -Looked Very Similar to Richard's Picures as Youngster in Coleman Book

Will Be Interesting to See Whether Colin Paul Grows Up to Be Similar Build / Height etc as Richard ......

Peter

 

[350hunny]

When I see Mindi, she reminds me of a younger Karen in her chubby figure. She is bubbly and adorable and seems uninterested in music...yet.
Think about Karen's and Richard's talent! Their gene runs in the family.
I hope to live to see any of the children follow their father's footstep.

 

[Harry]

If I remember my high school classes on the subject of genetics, isn't it a normal generalization to posture that things like artistic talent and other traits often skip a generation?

In other words, we may have more traits in common with our grandparents than our parents.

If this is true, then it might be Richard's grandkids who might exhibit more of his musical traits.

Harry
...theorizing, online...

 

[350hunny]

Interesting ,Harry. I thought Karen got her vocal qualities from Agnes.
Mom Carpenter sounded like she had a deep voice even when she talked.
Unfortunately I've never heard her sing.
I remember Dad and Mom Carpenter appeared in a Christmas special of C's and sang together with KC and RC but the segment was not on the air.

If Karen got her talent from her grandparent, the grandma must have had a good voice, too.
But I guess that as Agnes had a good voice according to Richard, any of his daughters may have taken on Agnes's vocal trait.

Wait. I'm confused. Do traits from a female parent go into her daughter and become remarkable or obscure?
I'm not good at biology.

 

[close2u]

Richard's second daughter, Traci, performed with Richard and Tommy Morgan (harmonica) for the crowd at the opening of the Carpenter Exhibit in 2000. I think she was 11 or so at the time. She did a beautiful arrangement of "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger" and I was stunned. She was singing in the lower "Karen" octave and had a gorgeous, warm, rich tone -- especially for a child of her age. Her pronunciation got in the way at times (maybe a little of the lisp that both Karen and Richard seemed to have). But overall, I was surprisingly pleased and made sure I told her so afterward.

I saw her again this past March at the TOP OF THE WORLD event at the Carpenter Center and asked Richard's wife Mary if we'd get to hear more from Traci... and joked (sort of) that she was the reason I attended this event -- just HOPING she'd sing again. Mary looked at her like "See... I told you..." but then said, "She hasn't sung since then!" She was referring to the 2000 event where I had first heard her.

I would REALLY love to hear her now. She is getting into those teen years and the voice could surely be developing into even more now... Let's hope she decides to sing again! Her brother Colin showed he has a LOT of talent not only vocally but in the PERFOMING side of show business... his version of Richard's new "All I Want Is You" (I hope that is the right title) was incredible! He has such great stage presence!

Randy

 

[Geographer]

I think it was Evelyn that told me once that K&R's grandmother on Harold side (Harold's mother) was known to have a beautiful voice. And, if you ever seen a picture of her, Karen and her grandmother showed a remarkable resemblence. Could the gene's be from Harold's side?

 

[Joni]

This is the first that I had heard that Mary was possibly adopted. Does anyone know for certain?

I've always felt unsettled about Richard marrying his cousin...