Mrs. Jean Pruitt Lovell passed away peacefully with her family surrounding and loving her on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. She was 92 years young.  A celebration of life service will be held at Collins Funeral Home in Acworth, Georgia at 6 PM on Friday, June 14. Visitation with the family will immediately proceed the service at 5 o'clock. She will be buried on Saturday, June 15, at 11 AM at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Athens, Georgia.

She was known affectionately as "Mama" by her two daughters, "Mimi" by her four wonderful grandchildren, "Ms. Jean" to many others, and "Mrs. Lovell" by her kindergartners and first graders that she taught over the years.

Jean was born and grew up in Lakeland, Florida, the baby of three children to wonderful parents, Arthur and Flonnie (nee Pirkle) Pruitt. While in high school, she placed first nationally at the Southern Baptist Young People's Union speakers tournament in Ridgecrest. Her powerful speech demanded that anyone who KNOWS Christ, MUST NOT DELAY AND TELL OTHERS!

She attended Carson Newman, Stetson, and graduated with a sociology degree from Florida Southern where she was a member of Phi Mu Fraternity. After college graduation, she moved to and worked in Charlotte, North Carolina where she met the love of her life, Fred Christy Lovell, from Conneaut, Ohio. They were married May 14, 1955, they lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, Atlanta, and Athens, Georgia.

While in Atlanta, Fred and Jean had two beautiful daughters, Christy Luanne Lovell (Thompson) and Jacqueline Marie Lovell (Catanzaro). She was the Director of Student Activities at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta from 1957 to 1966. During her time there she made life long friendships and impacted many lives. In 1958, the Georgia Baptist Hypo yearbook was dedicated to her. In 1966 she left the workforce to be a stay at home wife and mother. In 1971, job opportunities for Fred moved them from Atlanta to Athens where she lived in the same house for over 35 years.

After losing Fred in 1972, Jean deemed herself and her girls "The Three Musketeers". She went back to work in Social Work, but decided she was better suited to teaching. She proceeded to attend the University of Georgia to get a second undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education in 1974, followed by her Masters in Education in 1976, specializing in Reading.

Teaching became a passion for her. She loved to watch the magic of a six year old learning to read! Her 22 year teaching career included Oglethorpe County Elementary, and Clarke County Elementary schools Timothy Road and Barnett Shoals. In 1984 she was humbled to be named the Clarke County Teacher of the Year and was a top ten finalist in the state of Georgia. She loved her students well, from creating a book of stories her students wrote every year, making milkshakes for some students' first experience, to having an annual Thanksgiving feast - on her personal fine china! She delighted in knowing each student on an individual level.

In her spare time, Jean loved to play bridge where she made wonderful lifelong friends! After retiring, she got involved in her community garden club, and served as president of the Green Acres Garden Club from 2003 to 2005. In 2004, the club placed 1st Nationwide after creating a brick memory garden at Cedar Shoals High School. She loved serving in church as well. She taught Sunday school for over 40 years in various churches to various age groups. Teaching the Bible was her way of giving back and was rewarding as she continued to "learn something new everyday"!

Through her girls, she gained two beloved sons-in-law. Harry married Christy and Mike married Lin (Jackie - it's confusing!). Her first grandchild Caroline arrived in 1993 followed by Ryan in 1995. Then in 2003 Nicolas showed up and finally Allison (Allie) arrived on the scene in 2009. She loved her grandchildren so much and they loved Mimi right back! She was always quick with fun activities for them as well as words of wisdom for her daughters as they navigated parenthood! In 2006, she moved to Dallas, Georgia to be closer to her girls and grandchildren, where she attended many sporting events and activities, and was a part of many wonderful moments in her grandchildrens' lives.

From the moment she came onto this earth, she was a devoted Christian, always showing others Jesus' love through her actions and her kind words. She was always telling of the faith she had in Jesus to everyone she encountered. Even at 92! Matthew 5:14-16 is our Mama—" You are here to be light, bringing out the God-colors of the world. God is not a secret to be kept. I'm putting you on a light stand; be generous with your lives by opening up to others and you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven." Thank you for being a WONDERFUL light to us ALL! YOU WILL BE SO MISSED!!

Preceded in death by her husband of 16 years, Fred C Lovell. Survivors left behind to cherish her memory are two daughters, Christy Lovell Thompson (husband Harry) of Acworth and Jacqueline (Lin) Marie Catanzaro (husband Michael) of Woodstock, and a third daughter of her heart, Jisu Huh (husband TJ Yang) of Minneapolis, MN and Seoul, Korea, as well as four beloved grandchildren, Caroline Thompson of Winter Garden, FL, Ryan Thompson (wife Maegan) of Nashville, TN, Nicolas Catanzaro and Allison Catanzaro.

The family requests in lieu of flowers memorials be made to NorthStar Church of Kennesaw to the, "Whatever It Takes" building campaign, https://subsplash.com/northstarchurchga/give

Collins Funeral home is honored to serve the family of Mrs. Jean Pruitt Lovell.