Ruth Butts

A Celebration of Life for Sally Ruth Bumpus Tucker Butts will be Friday, August 21, 2020 at 11:00 AM at Sykes Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Baptist Church Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Thursday, August 20, 2020 from 4:00 PM-7:00 PM at the funeral home and again on Friday from 10:00 AM until the time of service. Ruth went to be with her Lord on August 18, 2020, at Signature Healthcare of Clarksville. She was born on January 22, 1921 to Lucy Eloise Tippit and Andrew Haskell Bumpus in Indian Mound, Tennessee. She attended Indian Mound School and graduated from Bumpus Mills High School in Stewart County. After attending Austin Peay State Normal College off and on, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in May 1957. She continued her studies over the years, taking graduate courses in Reading.

After the death of her first husband, Mitchell Savage Tucker, Ruth taught at Indian Mound Elementary School. When she moved to Montgomery County, Mrs. Butts taught at St. Bethlehem Elementary School and Ringgold Elementary School until she retired in 1980. She enjoyed teaching reading to third and fourth grade students. She taught both of her daughters to read before they entered public school.

Ruth was devoted to serving her Lord. She taught children’s Sunday School classes for many years at Cross Creek Baptist Church, Woodlawn Baptist Church, and Spring Creek Baptist Church. Her favorite age to teach were kindergarteners. Together with her husband Ray Butts, she helped found Woodlawn Baptist Church. In their later years, they were devoted members of First Baptist Church of Clarksville. She asked everyone she met where he or she went to church, and if the answer was none, she invited him or her to visit hers. She always told them that she wanted to see them there when she went to Heaven.

After growing up on her family’s farm and spending her first marriage as a full-time farm wife, Ruth loved to work in the soil. She raised a variety of fruits and vegetables for as many years as she and her husband Ray were able. She specialized in raising berries: three kinds of blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. An original “health nut,” Ruth read every book on health and nutrition available in the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library and applied her knowledge to her family’s diet and health. In her later years, her flowers and flowering bushes received her full attention.

For the last ten years, Ruth called Dogwood Bend Assisted Living her home, and the residents and staff became her extended family. She loved attending the musical concerts and holiday parties. She spent her days reading her Bible and watching old Westerns on television. Her family is grateful for the kindness and friendship of the staff and residents’ families over the years.

Ruth was preceded in death by her first husband Mitchell Savage Tucker and her second husband of over fifty years Ray Runyon Butts. She devoted herself to the care of her younger invalid daughter Rae Ann Butts until she preceded her in death. Survivors include: her older daughter Michele Tucker Butts of Clarksville, her younger sister Goldie “Gustie” Bumpus Darr of Oak Ridge, her younger brother Henry Bumpus of Indian Mound, and numerous nieces and nephews. Her younger sister, Josephine Bumpus Lewis; her younger brother, James Haskell Bumpus; and her second younger brother, Gordon Browning Bumpus, also preceded her in death.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Project GRL of Joyce Meyer Ministries, P.O. Box 655, Fenton, Missouri 63026-0655 to feed and educate young girls around the world
or to The A21 Campaign, PMB 605, 2781 W. MacArthur Blvd. Ste B, Santa Ana, California 92704-9903 to free and rehabilitate young girls from human trafficking.

Please visit Ruth's guestbook at www.sykesfuneralhome.com and share a memory with the family.