Celebrating the life of Ruth Elizabeth Smith Bates
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Obituary for Ruth Elizabeth Smith Bates
Ruth Elizabeth Smith Bates, age 78, of Sarahsville, Ohio, died Friday, July 26, 2013, at Genesis Good Samaritan Medical Center in Zanesville. She was born October 21, 1934, in Sarahsville, daughter of the late Jessie and Mary Edna Willey Smith. She was a 1952 graduate of Sarahsville High School, and she represented Sarahsville for Patten’s Appliance Miss Maytag contest. She was employed by the former Ross’s Restaurant and Caldwell Produce, and she was a homemaker who operated a family farm along with her husband. Through the years, she attended Center Free Methodist Church, Road Fork Baptist Church, and New Life Fellowship, and she was a member of the Sarahsville Alumni Association. She enjoyed working crossword and jigsaw puzzles, baking pies, and listening to music, and she enjoyed watching Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and soap operas on television. In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her husband, Clarence Bernard Bates, whom she married June 5, 1952, and who died November 6, 2006; three daughters, Linda Bates Pangle Shuster, Margaret Bates Abbott Marlow, and Judith Ann Bates; five grandchildren, Richard Pangle, Jr., Timothy Bates, David Abbott, Kenneth Abbott, and Tammy Pangle Varhohla; seven great-grandchildren, Kayla, Brett, Derek, Trina, and Trinda Pangle, Jonathan Pangle, and Samantha Feldner; two sisters, Mary Ellen Kiggans and Mabel Smith; and four brothers, Chuck, Wilbur, Paul, and Bill Smith. Surviving are her children, Gerald L. Bates (Anna Workman) of Sarahsville, Beverly J. Knepper of Canton, David W. (Linda) Bates of North Carolina, Diane L. (Jeff) Fogle of Harriettsville, Melissa K. (Jeff) McAfee of Cambridge, and Brian D. Bates of Caldwell; two brothers, Donald (Maggie) Smith of Caldwell and Ray (Toni) Smith of Sarahsville; 45 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren; 11 great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. Friends may call Monday, July 29, 2013, from 10AM-2PM at McVay-Perkins Funeral Home, 416 East Street, Caldwell, where the service will follow at 2PM with Pastors Jimmy Rogers and Greg Kasler officiating. Burial will follow at Village View Cemetery in Sarahsville.
