Obit: Emma Mae Owens Pruitt

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Emma Mae Pruitt of Nichols, died on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, after a battle with various physical illnesses.

A special thanks to the staff at University and Mercy Hospitals in Iowa City for their professional and loving care. Emma Mae was surrounded to the end by her loving family as she proceeded to her new home with God.

A private interment will be held at Lamar Cemetery near Elmo, Missouri. A memorial service for Emma Mae is being planned for the summer of 2021. The Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers will be in charge of arrangements.

Those wanting to remember Emma Mae’s passion for helping young Christian ladies may contribute to “God’s Girls Fund” at Muscatine Church of Christ, 3603 Mulberry Avenue, Muscatine, IA 52761. Online memorials may be made at www.wittichfuneralhome.com.

Emma Mae had a wonderful life with the family she so dearly loved.

Born on March 14, 1939, at the farm home of her parents, Paul and Marie Owens, she grew up with a loving Christian family in rural northwest Missouri.

As a teenager, she loved horses and excelled in 4-H, winning many awards including a trip to Chicago. She loved music and singing, as well as playing the piano and saxophone.

Besides her parents, Emma Mae was raised with an older brother, Robert, now of Shawnee Kansas, and younger sisters Linda Younger of Hopkins, Missouri, Rosalea (and Bill) Kelley of Maryville, Missouri, and Carla (and Paul) Taylor of Skidmore, Missouri.

Emma Mae graduated from Hopkins High School and Northwest Missouri State University with a degree in Home Economics. She taught Family and Consumer Science at West Liberty, Iowa High School for 18 years.

She met Lynn Pruitt at college and they married in September 1960.

The couple was blessed with four sons including Stephen (and Shaoli) of Atlanta, Georgia; Bryan (and Jan) of Birmingham, Alabama; Dennis (and Naam) of Glendale, Missouri; and Mark (and Kim) of Searcy, Arkansas.

Additional blessings include 12 grandchildren: Misha, Ian, Ting, Caroline, Elizabeth, Jackson, Brooks, Bennett, Anna, Maggie, Phoenix and Luke. Emma Mae loved her family so much and expressed it with cards, calls, cookies, gifts and hugs.

Emma Mae was a faithful member of the Muscatine Church of Christ, where she provided floral displays, bulletin boards, and most recently hosted a group of young ladies which she called God’s Girls. Her home was open to these girls and also to dinners and parties, and often served as a respite for people needing a placed to stay.

She loved designing and planting flower beds, resulting in a yard/garden which drew the appreciation of many. She and Lynn were active members of the Muscatine County Master Gardeners.

Emma Mae loved to do embroidery and to read, and thoroughly enjoyed being stuck at home during a snow storm. The Bible was her favorite book, but she often dug through a historical biography or a novel.

Emma Mae enjoyed travel almost as much as staying home. Visiting family was tops, including trips with Lynn to their children or to “our cabin” located on the family farm in northwest Missouri, close to her three sisters.

She was always up to an informal trip down a country lane but also thoroughly enjoyed traveling to and living in Malaysia and Thailand as part of Lynn’s work.

Being a fan of nature, Emma Mae loved the out-of-doors, the seasons, and anything related to God’s creation. One didn’t have to be around her long to appreciate her genuine faith, integrity and love for God.

Those remaining to remember Emma Mae’s life include her husband Lynn Pruitt of Nichols, her sons along with their wives and children, her brother and sisters, and several special friends.

Preceding her in death were her parents.

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