Grandma Ruby's Tribute

Ruby Lawhorn Hopkins died on September 19, 2010, at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, at the age of 98. Burial will be Wednesday, September 22, at 10:00 a.m., at Bixby Cemetery in Bixby, Oklahoma, with a memorial service scheduled for Friday, October 1, 2010, at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

Ruby was born in Pryor, Oklahoma on July 31, 1912 to Sam and Lula Mae Mitchell. Following her mother’s death when Ruby was a baby, she was raised by her Aunt Elzada and Uncle Dan Mitchell on a farm in Hartville, Missouri. Upon graduation from Hartville High School, she taught school in a one-room schoolhouse. On a trip to Oklahoma she met the love of her life, Everet Lawhorn, whom she married in 1935.

Ruby and Everet raised two sons and one daughter in Bixby, Oklahoma, and they were active in Bixby United Methodist Church. In her role as president of Women’s Society of Christian Service (now United Methodist Women) she took part in ground-breaking ceremonies for the new sanctuary in 1955. She loved to visit “shut-ins” and the elderly and often baked cakes and cookies to give them when she visited.

When Everet died, she moved to Texas to be near family, and a few years later Ruby married her childhood sweetheart Woodrow “Woody” Hopkins. With Woody, Ruby enjoyed a new life and family in California and was active in a United Methodist Church there before going to live with her daughter following the death of Woody. Until illness forced her to slow down, Ruby remained active and enjoyed life with her beloved family. Ruby was a lady of great faith, compassion, and humor who cared deeply about others and touched the lives of everyone who knew her.

Ruby was preceded in death by her two husbands, her two sons, Danny Lawhorn and Jerry Lawhorn, and is survived by her daughter, Linda Rush, son-in-law, Randy Rush, daughters-in-law, Jo Lawhorn of Sand Springs and Judy Lawhorn of Denton, TX; five grandchildren – Gary Lawhorn and wife Shelli of Sand Springs, Debbie Lawhorn of Klamath Falls, OR, Tommy Lawhorn and wife Wendy of Bixby, Jeff Rush and wife Susan of The Woodlands, TX, and Jenni Rush of Dallas; and 10 great-grandchildren – Kari Smith of Anna, TX, Tyler Lawhorn of Bixby, Cory Lawhorn and Hannah Lawhorn of Sand Springs, Brandon Lawhorn of AZ, Emily Lawhorn and Hunter Lawhorn of Bixby, and Brandon Rush, Sydney Rush, and Samantha Rush of The Woodlands and her niece, Judy Moore of Southaven, MS.

Arrangements are with Corbett Funeral Service in Oklahoma City. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Ruby’s name to Lifecare Foundation, c/o Lifecare Oklahoma Hospice, 226 W Gray, Suite 200, Norman, OK 73069.