Emogene Bennett Kite

Funeral service for Emogene Bennett Kite, age 85, of Fayetteville, TN will be conducted at 1 PM on Monday, November 12, 2018 at Higgins Funeral Home with Bro. Cleo Moon officiating. Burial will follow in the Gum Springs Cemetery.

Emogene was born to the late Harce Willson and Edetha Campbell Bennett on December 22, 1932 in Flintville Tennessee at the old home place. She was a feisty and precocious child who thought she could do anything her uncles could do – from setting a field on fire to rolling a smoke at the tender age of five. Emogene left Flintville as a young woman to make her mark on the world – going first to Texas and then to Florida. She worked in an exclusive dress boutique and always dressed in the most stylish clothes. Mrs. Kite met the love of Her life in Panama City, FL. They married in the wee hours of the morning on November 23, 1955, he was a sailor in the U.S. Navy and they embarked on a series of adventures. They lived in Key West, FL where their first child was born, and were living in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba when their second child was born. Emogene evacuated Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Crisis and was given a 30 minute notice with a three-year-old and being seven months pregnant, and not knowing if she would ever see her husband again. Mrs. Kite was able to return to Guantanamo Bay in December of 1962 where her son was the first child born after the Cuban Missile Crisis. After many years as a military wife, she and her family moved back to Flintville, TN. She loved to garden, enjoyed reading, loved flowers, and was a great cook and seamstress. She was strong, independent, and quite stubborn.

Emogene loved and was loved by many, including her late husband, Roy D. Kite; her daughter and son-in-law Judy and Mike McLeod; and her son Joseph Kite. Mrs. Kite was most proud to become a Nana to her grandsons – Jonathan Thomas McLeod and Jake Roy Kite, and also loved being called Nana by Ashley and Stephen Yatsko, son and daughter of Eric and Lisa McLeod Yatsko. In addition to her children and grandchildren, she is survived by her sister and brother-in-law Patricia & Danny Bryant; two newphews Ricky Bryant and wife the late Cindy, and Jeffrey and Linda Bryant; a niece Tammy Bryant; great-nieces Amber and Stephen Lindsey, Gabrielle and Edward Mullins; and great-nephews Danny Thomas Bryant, Richard Bryant and Will Bryant.

Mrs. Kite was blessed by wonderful caregivers, Virginia Owen and daughter Lindy, Carol Morgan, and Katyleen Burton.

Visitation with the family will be from 5 PM until 8 PM on Sunday, November 11, 2018 at Higgins Funeral Home. Higgins Funeral Home is honored to be serving the family of Emogene Bennett Kite.