Emily L. Pippin, a long-time resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Palm Bay, Florida, met her Savior face to face in Heaven on February 15, 2018, in Huntersville, North Carolina.  Her passions were Jesus, her family, music, genealogy research, flower gardening, and teaching and mentoring students.  Friends and family alike will recall her gift of hospitality.  She was proud of her Swedish and Czech heritage and authored six genealogy and family history books.  She also wrote many life-story articles for magazines and anthologies and was a member of the Space Coast Writers Guild.

Born May 6, 1934, in Minnesota, to Russell V. and Emily Rose (Zbytovsky) Person, she began singing publicly at age six and pursued music as a performer, teacher, and director all her life.  She and her sisters sang for troops on military bases in the Washington, D.C., area, in the late 40s and early 50s, as part of the DC Recreation Association. She earned a bachelor's degree in Music Education from King's College, Wilmington, Delaware, where she met her Godly and talented husband of sixty-one years.

The beautiful flower gardens in Emily's Indiana yards were enviable, but more important to her was the growth she fostered in her four children and her students in their Christian walk. When her children were young, she taught 4s and 5s Sunday school classes and led children's choirs in the church.

Emily then earned a master's degree in Secondary Music at St. Francis College, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and taught at Fort Wayne Christian and Blackhawk Christian Schools for 34 years, encouraging students to hone and use their God-given talents in the fine arts to glorify God. A woman of deep faith, she loved teaching the life of Christ to her Bible students and mentored many of them through their upper level school years.  With her husband, Dr. D. Leon Pippin, she directed and produced 21 musicals and multiple dramatic and music programs for churches, schools and communities. When Emily retired from teaching, they moved to Florida, where they continued to use their talents in churches and on creative writing projects.

Emily believed that music, the language of emotions, is one of the highest forms of praise to God. She infused her life of serving Jesus with creativity, excellence, and her full energies. Emily's final testimony: "I pray that the memory of my life will be that of one who walked with my Lord daily as I sought to work at whatever I did with 'all my heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since I know that I shall receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ I am serving.' "

The memories she leaves as a wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, and friend will be cherished by all who were touched by her talents and her faith. She loved her family dearly and will be greatly missed by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her brother Vernon Person.

A memorial service for Emily L. Pippin will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2018, at Davis Seawinds Funeral Home, Melbourne.  Family will receive friends from 10:30am-11:25am, followed by the service at 11:30am. She will be buried in a private service beside her husband (who died in 2017) in Florida Memorial Gardens, Rockledge, Florida.

The family requests that donations be made in her name to Covenant Presbyterian Church, Palm Bay, or First Baptist Church, Melbourne.