Obituaries

Emma “Jean’ Barlow Yount was born August 1, 1934 to Parks Thomas Barlow and Vella Lillian Goodnight Barlow in the small town of Granite Falls, North Carolina. She had 4 sisters and 1 brother. Such a big family to raise during the depression years. She told us many stories about those years and even though it was difficult living during that time, they made it through; the girls sharing hose, lipsticks, and clothes. When she was a senior in high school, she married her childhood sweetheart, Paul Lionel Yount, Sr. He lived in the same small town and went to the same schools. He was four years older than she, so he enlisted in the US Air Force and just a few days before he was to ship out to Korea, they married so they could collect a dependent check and save a little nest egg while he was overseas. When he returned he was stationed for the remainder of his term in Laredo, Texas where their daughter, Paula Jean was born. This is where they met their lifelong friends, Doris and Everette Owens. Jean worked on the base transcribing medical records. After honorably being discharged, Paul and Jean returned to North Carolina with their 3-month-old baby girl, Paula Jean. Paul went to college on the GI bill and completed his Bachelors degree in 2-1/2 years while Jean worked. He got a job with Arthur Young and Company, an accounting firm, and the family moved to Dallas. They loved the weather in Texas after experiencing it in Laredo, and they wanted to get out of the snowy winters of North Carolina. While in Dallas, Paul Lionel Yount, Jr. was born. Jean followed Paul to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he got a job as an accountant with The Offshore Oil Drilling Company. He was promoted numerous times and in 1963 the entire company moved to the city of Houston, which was growing by leaps and bounds due to the oil boom. They loved Houston and the family thrived. Jean took care of the family from all angles and Paul worked hard to support his family. The family enjoyed vacations to Yellowstone, rode a train through Mexico, and even spent a month in Rome while Paul worked at the Rome office. Paul and Jean were able to travel around the world in 1976 and went to many places others only dream to go. Jean bowled on a women’s league for numerous years, and once bowled a perfect game (300). She learned how to fly a small plane at the insistence of Paul who was a small-aircraft pilot from the time he was 16 years old. He wanted to be sure she could land if they ever emergently needed her to. She loved cooking and sewing, and anything she could do for or with her family. She belonged to the garden club for many years and won numerous awards for dish gardens and flower arrangements she made. She also won the Best Decorated Home in the neighborhood’s Christmas decoration contest in the 70s and was presented with a silver tray. She took oil painting lessons and painted enough that just about everyone in the family owned one of her paintings. They owned a farmhouse and land in Anderson, Texas for close to 20 years and loved spending weekends there before Paul retired, then spent time there hosting family and friends just about every weekend. They had four grandchildren: Heather, Courtney, David and Sarah; 7 great grandchildren: Emily, Samuel, Addison, Oliver, Alexa, Dottie, and Finn. Paul died in 1999, before all the great grandchildren were born but Jean made up for it, enjoying the older ones and playing with the littles almost every day. God blessed us (my brother and I) with the best parents anyone could have. They are and will be sorely missed but we know we will see them again someday. Cherished memories are what bring us Roses in December.
You may leave written memorials to her family at www.shmfh.com