David Hunt 1947-2024

Community, Family, Faith, and John Deere

David Leroy Hunt was born to Jeramiah and Virginia (Foland) Hunt on March 26th 1947.  He was born in Maryville, MO but grew up, farmed, and lived all of his life in Grant City, MO.  He went to elementary school in Grant City and graduated from Grant City High School in 1965. He married Mary Kay Owens June 1st 1968 at the Grant City Methodist Church. They raised their two sons Craig and Eric on a farm just a few miles down the road from where David grew up.

Farming with his brother Paul with John Deere tractors was not just a vocation, it was something he loved to do and part of who he was.  When there was spare time he enjoyed tractor pulling, reading, and watching his granddaughters Rikky, Haley and Braidy in all of their activities. He also enjoyed watching Paw Patrol with Morgan and taking her to chore with him. He had gotten to meet and spend time with his new great grandson Weston and was looking forward to meeting the next great grand.

He was very involved in community and charity work just a few of which included the Worth County Ambulance Board where he served as an ambulance driver, an EMT and on the board, 911 Board, one of the founding members of the Grant City Lions Club, Extension Council, Grant City Cemetery Board, Mt. Vernon Cemetery Caretaker, and he was a member of the United Methodist Church where he served in several leadership positions.

David Hunt was a man that put his faith first, then family, friends, neighbors and his community, all ahead of himself.

I can remember years ago I was renting pasture east of David and Mary Kay’s home place and the fence between us on my landlords side wasn’t anything special. I would have a cow get out on David and I would drive over to tell him. He would say “don’t worry about her, she’ll go home when she gets ready or we will get her someday when it’s handy.” The next thing you know he was calling and say “I got the cow in and already, had my trailer on so I took her back and put her in your pasture.”

David was the guy who, when the cemetery needed bladed out, instead of calling the city or asking someone else to do it, he just crawled in one of his John Deere tractors and drove to town and did it himself. 

David was the guy that would bring every tractor he had to town to help get ready for and put on a tractor pull, spending 3 days doing it for the community to enjoy as he himself did too.

David would come to my place in the spring to pick up seed corn, he would never take it all at once. He would say “just give me enough for today and we’ll see what tomorrow brings” or he might say “not going to plant much today, we gotta quit early to go to Rikky, Haley or Braidy’s ball game. I remember the last thing David would always say before leaving was “Okay, we’ll see ya.”

David Hunt was the guy that would stop planting his corn to help you plant yours. 

He truly did live out:

Mark 12:30-31 – New King James Version

30: And you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with your mind, and with all your strength’ This is the first commandment. 31: and the second, like it, is this: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

David is survived by his wife Mary Kay of the home, sons Craig (Sheila) Hunt and Eric Hunt all of Grant City, granddaughters Rikky (Clayton) Wilmes of Conception, MO, Haley (Levi) Boulting, Braidy Hunt, and Morgan Hunt all of Grant City, MO, and great-grandson Weston Wilmes. Sister-in-law Pam Hunt of Grant City, MO and sister-in-law Norma (Larry) Cousin of Coffeyville, TX and several nieces and nephews, cousins, and extended families.

Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at Prugh-Dunfee Funeral Home in Grant City, Missouri. Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Monday, March 25, 2024 at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Grant City Cemetery.