Arva Marie Pruitt
b. 24 October 1923, d. 13 August 2010
- Father: Peter Pruitt b. 16 February 1899, d. 24 September 1987
- Mother: Ella Baltrip b. 10 December 1899, d. 25 October 1997
- Arva Marie Pruitt was born on 24 October 1923 in Willis, Montgomery County, Texas.
- Peter Pruitt and Ella Baltrip appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1930 in Houston, Harris County, Texas, at 2112 Gregg enumerated next to the household of Ella's sister Vernon Culpepper.. Other members of the household included Arva Marie Pruitt.
- Peter Pruitt and Ella Baltrip appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1940 in Harris County, Texas, at Orange or Third. Other members of the household included Arva Marie Pruitt. In 1935 the family was living in Houston.
- She married William Edwin Jones III.
- Arva Marie Pruitt became a widow at the 29 September 1992 death of her husband William Edwin Jones III.
- Arva Marie Pruitt died on 13 August 2010 at age 86 in Charleston, Coles County, Illinois.
- She was interred at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota.
- The following appeared on 20 August 2010 in the Houston Chronicle: Mrs. Arva Marie Jones died peacefully at her daughter's home in Charleston, IL, on 13 August 2010, surrounded by her family. Born in Willis, TX, on 24 October 1923, to Peter and Ella Pruitt, Arva grew up in Houston's Fifth Ward and later moved to Acres Homes. Jones graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School and would go on to complete her education at Hutson-Tillotson College in Austin, TX. She then enrolled in the registered nurse degree program at General Hospital #2 in Kansas City, MO. There she met and married the love of her life, William Edwin Jones, III, and bore their first child, a daughter Joycelynn Marie. They traveled north on the railroad eventually landing in Minneapolis, MN, where they set down stakes and brought two more children into the world, daughter J. Hoxi and son William Edwin, IV, completing their family. She began working as a R.N. and later earned an adult nurse practitioner degree from the University of Minnesota. She was employed by Mt. Sinai Hospital and later at Pilot City Health Center where she retired. Throughout her retirement, she was a delegate for the DFL, volunteered at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and was a member of the Red Hat Society. In her spare time, she was an accomplished angler, gardener and seamstress. Throughout her life she was an ardent supporter of issues concerning sickle cell disease and advocated for better care for those affected by it. Arva, who gave her life to Christ early, was a faithful member of Oakland Avenue United Methodist Church. Daughter Joycelynn and her husband Charles Phillips of Charleston, IL; daughter J. Hoxi of Houston, TX; and son William of Minneapolis survive her. Her adored grandchildren Charles Phillips, Jr., of Guadalajara, Mexico, William Ray Lattin and Ruth Marie Franklin of Minneapolis as well as a host of great grandchildren, family and friends will remember her fondly. Her beloved husband of 45 years and two younger brothers who died in infancy preceded her in death. Arva was a woman filled with the love of God. She touched so many lives through her dignified care and concern for others. Funeral rites will be on 21 August, Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN.The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations in memory of Mrs. Jones be made to the Sickle Cell Association of the Texas Gulf Coast, 5330 Griggs Road, Suite A-118, Houston, TX 77021.
- Last Edited: 9 Nov 2015