Emma Jean Rhea

Emma Jean Rhea passed peacefully in her sleep on January 12, 2023 while in hospice care at her daughter’s home in Bluffton, SC with her daughter and son-in-law at her side. She enjoyed 89 years of life.

All of her grandchildren and most great-grandchildren were fortunate to visit with her in the past few weeks. She was so thankful and lit up when each of them came into eyesight. She said goodbye to each in her own way. Her son Randy from Utah was able to visit several times which meant the world to her.

Emma began her life journey on August 19, 1934 in Kentucky. Her childhood began with struggles. After only a few years, her mother (Amelia) left. Her father (Herchel Frank Burd) soon remarried, to Naida. With her new step-mother, she was again part of a family of three. When she was just twelve, her father went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. That night, a blood clot caused by the extraction took his life. A few years later her step-mother remarried (Martin Cosat).

Emma immediately became a member of a bigger family. Now she had a step-mother (Naida), step-father (Martin) and four step-siblings (Martin, Alice, Donald, and Sally). After high school, she began working at a hardware supply company, Bellnap. Good fortune found its way to Emma. Her best friend was dating a tall, handsome man from Tennessee, Richard Rhea. He took one look at Emma and it was love at first sight for both. Richard and Emma married February 15, 1953. At age 18, she began a new life with a new last name  - and since Richard liked the name Jean, she was now Jean Rhea. Throughout their 54 years of marriage, Richard and Jean lived in multiple states: Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Florida, Indiana, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Emma was preceded in death by her husband, Richard (2007), her step-brothers Martin and Donald. Left to cherish Emma's memory are her step-sisters Alice Hayner and Sally Nace and Emma’s children, Debbie Cooper, James Rhea, and Randy Rhea. Her grandchildren include Paul Rhea, Kristiana Shaw, Tanner Rhea, and Connelly Rhea. She also had seven great grandchildren, Landyn, Collyn, Madalyn, Dylan, Wyatt, McKinley, Walker, and another on the way. She also loved her special dog Mugs. The family will hold a memorial at a later date in Kentucky where Emma and Richard’s ashes will be buried together.