Ruth S. Irwin died Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010, at River Region Medical Center. She was 85.

Born in Warren County, she was the daughter of the late Charlie Smithhart and Hattie Lee Warnock Smithhart. Mrs. Irwin was a former employee of the White Stores and Walmart and retired from the Vicksburg Warren School District. She was a member of Bypass Church of Christ.

She was an avid gardener and a fan of the Ole Miss Rebels.

She is survived by two daughters, Peggy Kirkman (Ira) of Searcy, Ark., and Deby Carraway (Bert) of Vicksburg; one son, Billy Carl Irwin (Carolyn) of Houston; six grandchildren, Brett Kirkman, Derek Kirkman, Bert Carraway III, Magen Westcott, Karla Bennett and Angela Maughan; 12 great-grandchildren; two stepbrothers, Kirk Harper of Jackson and Robert Harper of Vicksburg; three sisters-in-law, Adele Smithhart, Charlene Irwin and Gladys Irwin; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, J.D. “Son” Irwin; and two brothers, Bobby Lee Smithhart Sr. and C. T. Smithhart.

Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Riles Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. Willie Nettle of the Bypass Church of Christ officiating. Burial will be at Greenlawn Gardens Cemetery. Visitation was Friday night at Riles Funeral Home, and also will be today from 1 p.m. until the hour of the service.

The family has asked that blood be donated in Mrs. Irwin’s memory.

Pallbearers will be grandsons of the deceased.