Emma Bernard Pitcher

A service celebrating the life of Emma Lucia Bernard Pitcher will be held on Wednesday, August 26 at 10:00 AM at First United Methodist Church in Natchitoches, Louisiana with Reverend Doug deGraffenreid officiating. Graveside service will follow at Memory Lawn Cemetery. The family will receive visitors on Tuesday, August 25 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at The Crossroads Sanctuary, First United Methodist Church. Mrs. Pitcher passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, August 22 at 9:45 AM. Emma Pitcher, or “Miss Emma” as she was affectionately known, was born on December 4, 1953 in Natchitoches, Louisiana. She was the sixth of seven children born to Henry Howard Bernard and Jessie Jones Bernard. She attended Northwestern State University from 1971 to 1975, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In 1978 she completed her Master’s Degree in Nursing, Clinical Specialist Degree in Pediatrics and Nurse Practitioner Degree from The University of Arkansas Medical Science Campus. She married Charles Seymour (Jack) Pitcher IV on April 21, 1984, and for the past 28 years made Natchitoches their home. She was a lifelong and loyal member of The First United Methodist Church in Natchitoches. She and her husband Jack started the New Beginnings Sunday School class and led the class for 25 years. She was a member of the P.E.O Sisterhood Chapter I in Natchitoches for 25 years. She was employed by Highland Hospital in Shreveport, Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Natchitoches Parish Hospital, Wise Clinic for Children, The Natchitoches Parish School Board, and Willis Knighton Hospital in Shreveport. Emma especially cherished her years spent as Head Nurse for the Cystic Fibrosis and Cancer Unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. While she loved being a nurse and found caring for others to be her calling in life, Emma’s most treasured time was spent as a mother and homemaker. She had a true passion and love for children, but she always said nothing compared to when God gave her her own. She will be remembered as someone who loved others well, and usually with an angel food cake, pralines, or one of her special handwritten notes! She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry Howard Bernard and Jessie Jones Bernard; and her grandparents, Louis Laurent Bernard and Lucia Cart Bernard of Iota, Louisiana, Chesley B. Jones and Emma Stafford Jones of Franklinton, Louisiana. She is survived by her husband, Charles Seymour (Jack) Pitcher IV; their 5 children: two daughters, Jessica Andrews Pitcher Clemons and husband Blaine of Natchitoches, Kayla Andrews Pitcher of Nashville, Tennessee, and three stepchildren, Charles Sargent Pitcher and wife Judy of Spanaway, Washington, Rachel Holcombe (Holly) Pitcher Potts and husband Ron of Chelsea, Alabama, and Elizabeth Ann Pitcher Jones and husband TJ of Winston, Georgia; her four brothers, Henry Howard Bernard, Jr. and wife Anna of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Louis Chesley Bernard and wife Gayle of Natchitoches, Louisiana, her twin brother Scriven Lance Bernard and wife Debbie of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and Don Starling Bernard and wife Rayann of Benton, Louisiana; her two sisters, Kayla Ann Bernard Carruth and husband Harvey of Portland, Oregon, and Mary Bronwyn Bernard Crowe and husband Kevin of Charlotte, North Carolina. She will be greatly missed by her eleven grandchildren and a host of nieces and nephews. Honorary pallbearers will be her brothers: Henry Bernard, Louis Bernard, Scriven Bernard, and Don Bernard; her two brother-in-laws: Harvey Carruth and Kevin Crowe; her son Sargent Pitcher and cousin Ronald Corkern. The family request that memorials be made to First United Methodist Church of Natchitoches.