It is with great sadness that the family of Louise Pruitt (as she was commonly known) announces her passing. She went home to be with the Lord on April 2, 2020, while living at the Christian Health Care Center in Lynden. She died of natural causes at age 98. We shall miss her terribly, but rejoice that she is with Jesus now and she can dance because she no longer needs her wheelchair.
She was born in Hays, Kansas, on Nov. 10, 1921, to Albert J. Sytsma and Bonnie Howell Sytsma, and she grew up in a Christian home. She loved taking care of her little sister, Bonnie, who was 13 years her junior. She also had an older sister, Vivian. Louise loved playing her cello, often listening to classical music. As she grew, she developed into a very friendly and kind person. She was very intelligent and got good grades. She always wanted to be a good girl, but had a side of her that wanted some adventure.
She decided to enroll at Fort Hays State College in her hometown of Hays, Kansas. She loved being involved in student government, theatre arts, playing in the orchestra, and off campus she and her boyfriend loved to dance to the music of the late 1930s and early 1940s. She majored in business and minored in music. She also started work as a secretary at a dental office in Hays.
She married her college sweetheart and dance partner, William Varner, who had joined the Army to help with the World War II effort. They moved to New Jersey, where Bill’s family lived. Unfortunately, after only two weeks of marriage, Bill was shipped off to war and within six months was killed in battle in Italy. This news devastated Louise, and she decided she wanted to join the WAC (Women’s Army Corps), but they wouldn’t take her because she was a widow. She did take up flying small planes though, and loved it.
She remembered a handsome boy in her class in high school by the name of Floyd Pruitt, who always wanted to carry her books, and some time after Bill was killed, Louise started to date Floyd and eventually they married on July 22, 1945. He was already in the Navy, and so off they went to various places in the U.S. where Floyd was stationed. He had been in the Navy for a few years before they reconnected. He was stationed in Greenland, Australia and the Pacific Theater as a radio man in a biplane. He spent eight years in the Navy and by the end of the war he was a Chief Petty Officer.
Floyd and Louise settled in Palo Alto, California, where he was accepted at Stanford. He was very shy, but very intelligent. He was a whiz at math and science. He had a genius IQ, which Louise appreciated. She got a job in the City of Palo Alto manager’s office, working to put Floyd through Stanford.
After nine years of marriage, they had a baby girl born March 17, 1954, on the Stanford campus at the Old Palo Alto Hospital. They named her Penny Lynn Pruitt. She had her daddy’s dark hair and brown eyes. Louise always wanted a brown-eyed brown-haired daughter, probably because she was a blue-eyed blonde. It was a very happy household.
In Palo Alto Louise took a job as the executive secretary of Downtown Palo Alto Inc. She worked through the 1960s there and loved the job. She then worked as a bookkeeper for various clients.
Floyd worked at Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto for many years and retired in 1983. He started having heart problems and had about five heart attacks over the next year. Sadly, he passed away on May 26, 1984. Waves of loss rushed over Louise and her daughter. They had all had such a close idyllic relationship with each other.
Louise soldiered on and finally moved out of the house she had shared with Floyd for 30 years. She moved to Lynden, Washington, a beautiful small bucolic town where everyone was so friendly. She lived there the rest of her life. Her daughter and son-in-law, Rich, and their three children came up every summer vacation to visit. Her daughter, Penny, came up for the month of November every year from 2003 through 2016. In April 2017 Louise fell and ended up at the nursing home. Penny spent a year with her, trying to get ready to bring her down to Livermore, where family lived. But Louise said she did not want to leave her beloved adopted state of Washington, and since this was voted the “Best Nursing Home in Washington” the family let her have her wish. After all, she was 95 when she fell. And she was 98 when she went to sleep never to step foot in this world again. She is out of pain and into the joys of Heaven now. Her family deeply misses her. She was loved and adored by them all.
She will be remembered for her hospitable ways, always thinking of others above herself. She was kind, very intelligent, a good conversationalist, a great seamstress, a good cook, and she loved to entertain. She flew small planes, rode elephants in India, square danced, ice skated at 50, had a small biography written about her, and got a letter from Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, who had read her story. Louise was a hard worker and loved playing the piano and singing in the choir. Her favorite sayings were “A job worth doing is worth doing right” and from the Bible “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Her favorite hymn was “How Great Thou Art.”
She was such a wonderful human being who loved Jesus, and everyone who met her adored her.
Louise was preceded in death by her parents, Albert J. and Bonnie Sytsma Bugbee; her sister Vivian Sytsma Finch; her first husband, Bill Varner, and her second husband, Floyd Pruitt.
She leaves her daughter, Penny Elder, and son-in-law Rich Elder; her grandchildren, Tim Elder and wife Shannon and their three boys Justice, Hart and True; her granddaughter Christie and fiancé Nick, and their daughter, Marissa; and grandson, Matthew Elder. She also leaves her sister, Bonnie Houston; niece Caryn Rogers Bruce and nephew Brad Rogers, nephew Robin Finch and niece Patti Pruitt; and all their children. She also leaves many dear friends, who will all miss her.
There will be no ceremony due to COVID-19. We had a virtual service with just the funeral director, who was so kind to record it for us. It almost didn’t work. But we got to see her casket and her dear friend and neighbor Paul Harris had some beautiful thoughts to share with us who watched (just the immediate family). This was all Louise wanted regarding memorial services. It was in her will, just a small graveside service. COVID kind of dictated it be like this anyway. But we will all remember the beautiful thoughts of our beloved Mom, wife, sister, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Thank you to Gillies Funeral Home for all your help. She is interred in a crypt with her husband, Floyd, at the Moles Greenacres Memorial Park of Ferndale.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the National Federation of the Blind, 200 East Wells St. at Jernigan Place, Baltimore, MD 21230.
“We have passed out of death and into Life.” 1 John 3:14.
