Virginia Pettit Uchtman

Services were held Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Frontier Baptist Church in Pontiac for Virginia Pettit Uchtman of Isabella. Mrs. Uchtman died Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009, at Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Ark., after a brief illness.
She was born Sept. 3, 1941, in Gassville, Ark., to Jack and Nova Martin Pettit. She grew up in Isabella, where her family, including her three brothers, lived across the road from the children's maternal grandparents. She graduated from Gainesville High School in 1960 and then acquired a cosmetology license in Springfield.
In 1970, she married Don Uchtman, and together they raised Virginia's two sons from a previous marriage, Gregory Lynn and Jeffrey Wayne Richey. The family moved frequently with Don's job as construction superintendent for Kansas City-based Massman Construction, a company that helped build major dams and bridges throughout the Midwest, including the Truman and Clarence Canyon Dams.
After Don's early retirement in 1990 due to Vietnam War-related disability, they settled back at their home in Isabella, where they have worked together since then on their cattle farms. Mrs. Uchtman especially liked to drive around the farms in the morning, counting the cows and naming the newborn calves. She loved traveling and in particular enjoyed visiting the mountains.
She was baptized as a teenager and currently attended the Salem Baptist Church. She is survived by her husband, Don, and sons, Greg Richey and wife Ruthetta of Nixa, and Jeff Richey and wife Debbie of Theodosia; two granddaughters, Samantha and Allison Richey; two brothers, John Pettit and wife Emma of Southfork, and Jim Pettit and wife Vicky of Mount Vernon. She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, Ronnie, who died as an infant, and Tom Pettit.
Pastor Don Yarger presided over the services; burial was in the Pontiac Cemetery under the direction of Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Gainesville. Memorial contributions may be made to Pontiac Cemetery.