Obituaries are mostly statistics, but during her 98-year life span she touched us all.

Ruby Spruill was a miracle. She was the mother to many.

She passed peacefully and went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ July 26, 2015.

Mrs. Spruill was born Aug. 30, 1917, in Maben.

Growing up on a farm in Mississippi with seven siblings, she became mother to them all when her mother died in childbirth.

When she married her true love, David, her family came along, and she was well prepared to “train up a child in the way he should go.”

She was a grandmother in both word and deed, and her “family famous” baking was just one expression of her love for all of the assorted little ones she cuddled. When she was in her 70s, she was blessed with another granddaughter and was active in her upbringing through the time she was in her teens, so her mothering never really stopped.

She was a teacher, not by education, but by example. She was a friend to all, but private in her own way. You had only to close your eyes and listen to her deeply accented southern voice to be swept away into a picture book of southern stories of life and love in a time gone by.

She was a Christian, not because she went to church (which she did faithfully), but because she lived her Christian life without fanfare, by loving the Lord Jesus and believing He loved her first and gave his life for her, personally.

She will be sorely missed, but the tears will always come with a smile, until eventually, our smiles will be her tribute, instead of our tears.

Ruby is preceded in death by her husband of 42 years, James David Spruill.

She leaves behind her sons, James Doyle Spruill (fiancée Rosalba Talamas) and Ellis Wayne Spruill (Colleen), as well as her grandchildren, James Kevin Spruill, Stephanie Kay Spruill and Catherine Elizabeth Spruill.

The family would like to extend a sincere thank you to a special person in Ruby’s life, Jeanne Maguire who has been a lifelong blessing.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the International Missionary Fund care of Trinity Baptist Church.

Graveside services will be Saturday Aug. 1, 2015, at Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of Glenwood Funeral Home.