Reva Bonner Emerson passed away of natural causes on November 8, 2016 at the age of 95.
Reva was born on September 28, 1921 in Dry Fork, West Virginia. She was one of eight children born to Casper and Margie Bonner. Reva graduated from Davis High School and eventually went off to Cumberland, MD to study nursing. Upon her graduation, she relocated to Washington, DC where she met and married J. Martin (Marty) Emerson in 1944, a prominent musician and active in the musicians union. Four years later Reva had what was to be her only child, a son, Jay.
In the mid-50s, Reva and her family moved to the DC suburbs where she lived for the next 25 years. She eventually relocated to New Jersey for the 15 years of her life. During this time Reva travelled extensively pretty much seeing all the eight wonders of the world. Reva moved back to Virginia to be close to her son and her roots. Reva and Marty continued to enjoy life to the fullest until Marty’s death in 1997. They had been married for 53 years.
Reva was preceded in death by four sisters, Winifred, Hallena, Virginia, and Irene, and two brothers Warren and Darwin. She is survived by her son, Jay M. Emerson Jr. and wife Shirley, step-daughter Sharon Granzin and husband Ken, brother Kermit Bonner and wife Ruth, sister-in-law Ruth H. Bonner, and many loving nieces and nephews. She was interred next her late husband on November 11, 2016 at Cedar Hill Cemetery.
