Barbara “Bobbi” Pruett, one of Huntsville’s first hospice nurses in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, died Wednesday, Sept. 14, at the South Hampton Nursing/Rehabilitation Center in Owens Cross Roads following a lengthy illness. She was 80 years old.
The funeral, to be conducted by retired Sherwood Baptist Church pastor Don Paris, will be Tuesday, Sept. 20, at Laughlin Service Funeral Home of Huntsville. Visitation will be from 10:30 a.m. until 12 p.m. at Laughlin’s chapel, followed by a graveside service at Maple Hill Cemetery.
Mrs. Pruett is survived by her husband of 57 years, John Pruett, the former longtime sports editor of The Huntsville Times; three children – son Tom (Sonia), daughter Afton Pruett Travens and son Patrick Pruett (Tracey); seven grandchildren: Cassandra Campbell Travens of Huntsville, Jimmy Travens of Huntsville, Dr. Clay Pruett and his wife, Dr. Brittany Pruett, of Annapolis Station, Md., Micah Lynn Pruett of Little Rock, Ark., Laney Pruett of Huntsville and Auburn, Ala., Caleb Pruett of Huntsville, a junior at Birmingham Southern College, and Katie Beth Pruett of Huntsville, who attends Huntsville High School; and two step-great granddaughters, sisters Hazelee and Jupiter Scott of Huntsville; and sister-in-law Cheryl Macomber.
Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Margaret Macomber of Huntsville; one brother, Kenneth Wayne Macomber of Huntsville, a former City of Huntsville policeman; one niece, Cindy Macomber Noor of Huntsville; and by a son-in-law, James “Jimbo” Travens, Afton’s late husband.
Mrs. Pruett worked several years as a volunteer at Hospice of Huntsville and later as a nurse at Huntsville Hospital and then for Hospice at several facilities in Huntsville and Madison County. She often told her family, friends and co-workers that her true calling was Hospice, especially in the field of caring for the elderly and ministering to end-of-life patients. She gave unselfishly of herself to her family and friends and loved her children and grandchildren dearly, and she greatly enriched the lives of all who knew her.
Born at Fort Benning, Ga., just two months after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, Barbara and her brother Ken grew up in a career military family. Their father, Frank, was raised in Oregon and lived the last 35 years of his life in Huntsville after serving in the U.S. Army (and later the Air Force), first in the Philippines in the 1930s and later as a drill instructor and troop combat trainer at Fort Benning and various other posts in both the U.S. (West Palm Beach, Fla., Albuquerque, N. M., Travis Air Force Base in California, and Shreveport, La.) and overseas (Ankara, Turkey and Okinawa, Japan.) Barbara graduated high school in 1960 at Kubasaki H.S. on Okinawa. She loved to tell family and friends that she and her brother were always proud to be called “military brats” because they were provided the opportunity of traveling to many places around the world.
A lifelong Baptist and a former Sunday School teacher and Awana teacher, Mrs. Pruett and her husband are members of Sherwood Baptist Church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Women’s Ministry at Sherwood Baptist Church (6600 Old Madison Pike, Huntsville, AL 35806), or to the contributors’ favorite charity.
