Emma Buelow

Emma Louise Niemann Buelow died on January 30, 2021 at age 97. She was born on April 30, 1923 to August and Jane Niemann at Meadowlands, Minnesota. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother, Henry Niemann, sister, Verna Niemann Fox, and her husband of 71 years, Ralph Wallace Buelow. She leaves behind her children: Thomas W. Buelow and wife, Ellen Guerrettaz Buelow: Nancy Buelow Hayes and husband, Thomas C. Hayes; and Gary P. Buelow and his wife, Mafi Buelow. Additionally, Emma has 11 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren. She grew up on a farm in rural northern Minnesota. After graduating from Meadowlands High School in 1941, she attended Duluth State Teachers College. There, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics in 1945. She taught Home Economics for one year in Barnum, Minnesota and served as Carver County Home Demonstration Agent for three years in Waconia. She met her future husband there, and they were married on December 21, 1947. They had their first two children, Tom and Nancy, in Minnesota and their third child, Gary, in Georgia. Emma was a teacher to her core, and loved and took the job very seriously. She taught in all five different states they lived in for a total of about 30 years. Emma taught at Leland and Riverside Elementary Schools in Georgia, while continuing her education by taking courses in Elementary Education at Emory University in Atlanta. She taught at Cullowhee Valley School, while attending Western Carolina University in North Carolina. In Rhode Island she taught at Forest Park Elementary. Emma finished her teaching career in Cincinnati, where she taught at Summit and Sherwood Elementary Schools, and earned her Master's Degree in Elementary Education from Xavier University in 1972. In 1980, she and Ralph retired to Murphy, North Carolina. She was a member of the Murphy First United Methodist Church. In retirement, she held several positions in the Murphy Methodist Church and in the Waynesville District of the United Methodist Church. She was a member of The Delta Kappa Gamma International. She volunteered at Murphy Medical Center Hospital. She enjoyed sewing, crafts, quilting and knitting, and was an avid reader. She was a member of the Misty Mountain Quilt Guild, the Brown Baggers Book Club and volunteered in various ways in Cherokee County. Ralph and Emma moved back to Cincinnati in 2014 after living in Murphy for 34 years. They bought the house next to their eldest son, Tom. Tom and his wife Ellen made it possible for them to have independent lives for several years there. Emma said it was the perfect house and the perfect neighborhood. Ralph passed away in 2019, and shortly after that Emma moved into assisted living not far from Tom. Tom visited her several times a day, until the covid19 restrictions prevented him. Emma would eventually catch pneumonia, which weakened her, and then covid19. She passed away a little less than two years after her husband.