Jewel M Ruth's Obituary
Jewel Mildred Williams Ruth, aged 100, of Dallas, passed into eternal life on Nov. 15, 2022. She was born on June 4, 1922, in San Antonio, Texas, and was her parents’ youngest child and only daughter. From a very early age, Jewel worked part-time to contribute to her family financially and still managed to graduate from Brackenridge H.S. in 1938, at the age of 16. It was in this same period, in the pre-war social whirl of their military hometown, that Jewel met John Phillip Ruth at a dance. In each other, they found more than a two-step partner. Jewel and John discovered a shared sense of adventure and a love big enough to span continents and decades. They were married on March 23, 1942.
After John returned from the Pacific at the end of WWII, they were stationed briefly in California, then in Washington, D.C. where they welcomed their first two daughters, Barbara and Judy. From 1955 to 1957, they lived in Tehran, Iran, where John was assigned to the Naval Attaché’s Office and they welcomed their third daughter, Susie. It was a challenging posting for him and an even more challenging place for Jewel to care for their young family.
Returning stateside, they bought a home in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas and eventually gave up the nomadic life of the Navy. They made many lifelong friends, watched their girls grow up, hosted epic parties and delicious holiday meals, welcomed four grandchildren, teased each other, laughed lots, and came home to that house together after adventures, big and small, for almost four decades before John’s death in 1995.
For 31 years, Jewel worked as the dental assistant and office manager in the practice of Dr. Jerry Chitwood, caring for two and three generations of patients as well as the LHHS football teams. An active member of Northlake Baptist Church, Jewel started and led a women’s prayer group for several years. Later, she and John helped to form Liberty Baptist Church.
Jewel always had her bags packed for a trip. She and John traveled all over the world—Europe, Mexico, Central America, and southeastern Asia. They shared a deep and genuine enjoyment of new places and people and relished telling stories of their trips. Jewel took special joy in having smuggled Bibles behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.
In the wake of John’s death, Jewel showed a depth of courage and resilience as she fashioned a new life for herself. In the late 1990s, Jewel went back to work part-time at Stein Mart on Mockingbird Lane and was a devoted boutique lady for over 20 years until she was 96. She was much beloved by customers, who sought out both her honest clothing advice and her generous spiritual guidance. She dearly loved and was loved by co-workers of all ages and backgrounds, who would stop by the boutique to hug “Miss Jewel.” In 2015, CEO Jay Stein presented her with a plaque and pin for distinguished service and The Dallas Morning News published a feature story on her.
Jewel loved the Lord, and during this period of her life, she enjoyed teaching women’s groups all over Dallas about prayer and faith. Encouraged by them, she wrote a short memoir of her life, A Walk of Faith.
Determined to keep up her strength into her nineties, she enjoyed walking the corridors of North Park Mall and taking in a movie. She reveled in little children and delighted in clothes and jewelry, especially big earrings and glasses that made a fashion statement. In the last four years of her life, Jewel exhibited incredible grit and tenacity in the face of her failing health and never lost her humor, style, or sense of God’s calling in her life.
Jewel is survived by her three daughters: Barbara Ruth (John Wright) of Austin; Judy Davis (David Renteria) and Susan Ruth (Jerry Reeves), both of Dallas; by four grandchildren: Ryan Davis (Mandi) of Dallas; Rachel Ruth Wright (Richard Stafford) and Elizabeth Ruth Wright, both of Austin; and Garrett Reeves (Caitlin Seifert) of Corpus Christi; by four great-grandchildren: Zoey Davis, Jack, Esme, and Teddy Stafford; and by many nieces and nephews and their children.
She was preceded in death by: John Ruth, her husband of 53 years; her parents, Alvin Vester (A.V.) and Margaret Armilda Rose Williams; her brothers, Lawrence and Lester Bennett and Roy V. Williams.
A funeral service will be held on Monday, Nov. 21, at 2:00 p.m. in the Memorial Chapel of Restland Funeral Home, 13005 Greenville Ave., Dallas, Texas, with interment in the adjacent Memorial Gardens, followed by a reception in the main building.
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