Long-Time University Friend Pauline Emery Passes Away
Posted on: January 25, 2022
Tigerville, SC (January 25, 2022) Dr. Pauline Hughes Emery, long-time university friend and widow of Dr. Arnold E. Emery, passed away January 11, 2022. She was 89.
“Dr. Emery was an incredible example of how partnership in a godly marriage can inspire others to serve their communities. She was deeply steeped in God’s Word, and it showed in everything she did,” said NGU President Dr. Gene C. Fant, Jr. “Her sweet spirit and gentle demeanor combined with a strong mind to impact everything she and her beloved late husband touched, whether it was the Upstate, their church, or North Greenville University.”
Dr. Emery completed the eighth grade at Jordan High School before she left to help her parents at home while they worked at the textile mill in Taylors, SC. She later earned her GED certificate.
She married Arnold Emery at the age of 18 and worked in the mending room at the textile mill for 20 years before joining her husband in operating Arnold Emery Lumber Co., Inc., for more than 40 years.
At NGU’s December 2017 Commencement, Pauline was awarded an honorary doctorate “for her faithfulness in reading her Bible and for the example of obedience she has set for all followers of Christ.” She read through the Bible more than 350 times during her lifetime.
“When I heard about her dedication to the daily reading of God’s Word, we wanted to recognize her in a way that would inspire everyone to spend more time in God’s Word,” said Dr. Fant. “Her enthusiastic response to her honorary doctorate, which was assisted by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, was an incredible challenge to everyone in attendance.”
The Emerys were active members of Southern Baptist churches throughout their over 70 years of marriage. They were instrumental in providing more than $100,000 in financial support to North Greenville in the 1980s. They increased that support more than five-fold in the 1990s as the university sought to stabilize financially.
In 1983, the Emerys established the Arnold E. and Pauline H. Emery Endowment at NGU “to make a college education available for worthy, needy students.” In 1986, they acquired land for the NGU football complex and donated the Avenue of Flags. In 2000, the Emerys provided leadership funds for building the Arnold and Pauline Emery Residence Hall. Additionally, they gave funds for the Arnold and Pauline Emery Game Room, which opened in 2006 in the university’s Tingle Student Life Center. Pauline was a founding member of the school’s Auxilio, formerly the Women’s Auxiliary Board.
