Celebration of life to be held for Poplar Bluff native, opera singer

Renown opera star and Poplar Buff native Jerome (Jerry) Pruett died Christmas morning, but the magic of his dreams, visions and courage live on in those he knew.

Pruett, 77, died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. His family and friends, both in his hometown and around the world, as well as students, share their memories, his vision and his talents.

Jacquelyn (Kimberlin) Pruett, his first wife and the mother of his daughters, said, “We always believed that having dreams and goals and keeping those in the heart and mind, would ultimately lead to some sort of iteration of them.”

Pruett

She and their daughters, Kathryn Pruett and Christi Busch, all of Charlotte, North Carolina, are planning a celebration of life Saturday, Feb. 16 at Cotrell Funeral Chapel in Poplar Bluff. Cotrell will announce specific arrangements at a later date.

Former newspaper editor and local historian John Stanard said, “He is someone of whom Poplar Bluff can certainly be proud, Jerry reached the top.”

Stanard was a year ahead of Pruett in the local schools.

Denny Mickey of Marianna, South Carolina said, “He was my best friend through grade school, high school and college at Arkansas State. He was my best man in my wedding in 1964. We grew up and he went to Europe. We didn’t see much of each other for a long, long time.”

Mickey recalls starting to play the trumpet two years before Pruett. In one summer Pruett surpassed him. In high school, the band director, Joe Smith, had a private dance band and Pruett was good enough to play with the band, Mickey said.

As members of the high school band, students would play “Taps” at military funerals. When he and Jerry played, one would stand by the flag pole and the other would stand across the cemetery playing the echo.

After college, Pruett worked at Rector, Arkansas, as a music teacher for both band and choir. Two years later he was offered the position as junior high band director in his hometown.

Michkey recalled when “he told me he was going to take voice lessons I did not know the man could sing at all. The next thing he told me he was going to sing opera. He was very successful.”

Pruett studied in St. Louis and Colorado, making his debut as an American tenor, in 1974 at Carnegie Hall as Ugo in ‘Parisina,’ then singing with the New York City Opera. In 1975, he was engaged at the Vienna Volksoper singing in the première of Wolpert’s ‘Der eingebildete Kranke.’ In 1977, he sang Henry Morosus at Glyndebourne, returning in 1985 as Matteo.

After working with the renowned voice teacher Thorwald Olsen in St. Louis for several years, he realized his dream and focused exclusively on becoming an opera singer. While he was teaching at Iowa State, at Nicolai Gedda’s suggestion, Pruett moved his family to New York City to pursue this passion. His professional opera career spanned almost two decades, starting in New York, then on to Vienna, Austria and Paris, France. Returning to the United States, Pruett taught voice at the Hartt School of Music in Bloomfield, from 1989 to 2004, when he retired from teaching.

Poplar Bluff artist and retired teacher Laura Clark lived across Lester Street from his parents’ family business Pruett’s Barbecue. He was the son of Tory and Pearl Pruett.

Clark, who also knew his first wife, taught with him at Poplar Bluff Junior High School.

“He always saw himself on a stage singing,” Clark said.

Clark visited the Pruett family at their home in Paris for dinner.

“You could see the Eiffel Tower from their apartment,” she said. “You could see flashes around the tower and Jerry said the flashes were the lights from people taking photographs. I always thought that was magical.”

Performers Johnathan Iverson and Victor Khodadad selected Pruett after he returned to the U.S. as their teacher.

As a member of the Boys Choir of Harlem, Iverson said he enjoyed a fantastic experience and had performed on some of the most coveted stages around the world. He was a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art & Performing Arts. Iverson needed someone who excelled and he had “one of the greatest voices of the 20th century” to continue his training. Iverson selected Pruett who was teaching at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford.

“My education with Jerry grounded me,” Iverson said. “He was definitely a wonderful gentleman. He had a wealth of experience and was an active member of the performing community.”

Iverson became the first African-American ringmaster of a major U.S. circus in 1999, at 22, when he won the position at Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Khodadad said Pruett was his voice teacher for more than 10 years, “He obviously was an incredible artist and musician. He understood the singer.”

Khodadad said Pruett “instilled his own passion.” Their relationship became “so much more than” teacher and student, he became a “major mentor of my life. He was a rich individual with such character. I learned so much from him. He was a great model.”

Pruett is survived by his wife of 21 years, Karen Pruett of Bloomfield. Jerry is also survived by his daughter, Kathryn Pruett, and daughter and son-in-law ,Christi and Bob Busch, all of Charlotte, North Carolina; as well as his older brother and his wife, Larry and Darlene Pruett (and children Robin and Dan) of Jacksonville, Florida. Another brother, Troy Dale Pruett of Cape Girardeau died Aug. 4, 2014.