Olive Pyatt

Olive Elaine Pyatt, age 94, of Lamar, passed away early Thursday morning, January 26, 2017, at Mercy Hospital in Carthage.       Olive was born December 12, 1922, the third of eight children, to Claude W. and Sarah Opal (Palmer) Jones in Knob Noster, Missouri.  The family moved to Barton County when she was very young.       Olive graduated from 8th grade at Anderson Rural School, then started working as a housekeeper for families who could afford it during those hard times after the war.  She married Garald Elmer Pyatt on March 22, 1942.  She was his true helpmate – running fur trap lines, milking cows, driving tractors, assembling new farm equipment, growing and preserving most of their food, raising chickens and hogs and cattle.  Although she much preferred to be outside working, she found the time to teach her three daughters how to cook, clean and sew and many other important life skills.  An accomplished quilter, Olive hand-pieced and hand-quilted beautiful quilts for each grandchild.  She was a very hard worker and she derived much pleasure from her bountiful gardens and beautiful flower beds.  People would stop in the street to admire her beautiful flowers.  When she “retired” from farming, she volunteered as a “transplant specialist” at the Lamar Greenhouse during the spring months.  Olive was also a breast cancer survivor, not once but twice.       Olive was a lifelong member of Hopewell Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  She is survived by two daughters, Marilyn Howard (husband Lee) and Garalene Pyatt, who were her next-door neighbors in Lamar.  She is also survived by five grandchildren:  Theron McDaniel and family (Dallas, Texas), Danelle Howard (Lamar), Sheree McDaniel Bales and family (Colorado Springs, Colorado), Dr. Galen Howard and family (Flower Mound, Texas), and Danae McDaniel Theleman and family (Olathe, Kansas).  She was also blessed with 12 great-grandchildren.  Two sisters, Reba Jones Simmons (Irwin, Missouri) and Sarah Jones White (Boerne, Texas), also survive.       Olive was preceded in death by her parents, husband, her oldest daughter, Rose Ann Pyatt McDaniel, her son-in-law Leonard E. McDaniel, and five siblings, Madeline Phipps, Curtis “Jack” Jones, Mary Williams, Alma Reaves and Wanda Jones.       Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, January 29th at Daniel Funeral Home with Rev. Leland Howard officiating.  Burial will be in Iantha Cemetery.       Memorial contributions are suggested to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in care of the funeral home.        Condolences and memories may be shared at www.danielfuneralhome.net