Ruby V. McSwain

Ruby Vann Crumpler McSwain

Sanford

Ruby Vann Crumpler McSwain, an extraordinary and generous philanthropist and community activist, passed from this world, at her home, on August 30, 2015 at the remarkable age of 97 years old. Known to all as "Miss Ruby," she proudly lived her life with simplicity and inexhaustible energy, motivated through her service to others, and was driven every day to impact many people for generations to come.

Ruby Vann Crumpler was born in Sampson County, NC, on March 31st, 1918, an Easter Sunday, to her loving parents Robert Matthew and Annie Parker Crumpler. She was the youngest of six children, those being Hazel Crumpler Langston, Lucy Marianne Crumpler, Annie Mae Crumpler, E. Graham Crumpler, and Robert Douglas Crumpler, and was proud to be the "baby of the family." Ruby's rural upbringing would establish in her a deep-seeded love of local arts, education, agriculture, horticulture, farm conservation, historic preservation, and community outreach. She would attend public schools in Salemburg, NC and continue her education through coursework at the nearby Pineland College.

Ruby and her husband, Ernest P. McSwain, married in 1945, and began their life together with a year-long honeymoon across the world. This time would instill in her a drive to see and learn much in the world, and to make an impact on others as far as she could reach. Proudly next to Ernest, she would wear her gloves, fur stole, and red lipstick...which would be her lifelong trademark color.

Ruby would relate to all the instantaneous love that the couple had for one another, and, after Ernest's passing, she would carry on his memory and namesake through her many stories of their life together and through her own efforts at enriching the institutions that they both admired. These loving partners and innovative entrepreneurs settled in Lee County, NC, where they opened a retail florist business and operated eight greenhouses. Their successes led them to Ontario, Canada, where they built, owned, and operated the first modern tunnel kiln-type brick company in Canada. Ernest and Ruby McSwain returned to Sanford to continue their lives and interests, and to establish further roots in the area.

After Ernest's passing and 30 years of marriage, Ruby continued what they had envisioned together and devoted many efforts to honoring his legacy. She would go on to open The Fireplace in 1979, a retail home goods and gift store in Sanford, where she would continue to work until she was 95 years old. Ruby's very long life was evidence of her great desire to accomplish many things, which she was determined to do exceptionally well, and she changed the world for the better. Her awards and accomplishments are too many to list, but, as she is more than deserving, it will be endeavored to do so here.

As a devoted member of Sanford's First Baptist Church, Ruby McSwain regularly attended Sunday School and worship services. In 2002, she was awarded the North Carolina Baptist Heritage Award for her giving and service to organizations associated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Her special pew and "spot," where she sat each Sunday, will not soon be forgotten.

Ruby supported many local Lee County organizations and has been recognized as an outstanding Lee County entrepreneur and philanthropist. She was a longtime supporter of the Temple Theatre, contributed to public radio and tv, was a member of the Sanford Brush and Palette Club, and served as a board member for the Lee County Enrichment Center. Her gifts to the Enrichment Center helped furnish the Center in 1992.

Ruby's generosity and contributions with N.C. State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Cooperative Extension would aid in establishing the The Ernest and Ruby McSwain Extension Education and Agriculture Center in Lee County. She would receive the Citizen of the Year award from the Sanford Herald in 1997, and go on to receive the newspaper's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 for her services to Sanford and Lee County.

Ruby's deep desire to become an artist and to study at Meredith College, led her to make significant contributions to the institution. She served at Meredith College as a Trustee, member of Meredith's Board of Associates, and their Campaign Steering Committee. She contributed to Meredith's Carlyle Library, endowed several scholarships, and gifted diverse species of magnolias for Meredith College's grounds through the Ruby C. McSwain Magnolia Collection. In 1999, she was recognized as an honorary alumni within Meredith College's Class of 1954 for her many contributions to the college, and The Ruby C. McSwain Courtyard was dedicated in honor of her continuing and lasting impact on students there.

This great desire to promote the Arts in North Carolina would carry on through her longtime service with the North Carolina Museum of Art's Board of Trustees. Her love of the NCMA will greatly impact North Carolinians in the future, most notably, through her substantial pledge of an endowment to fund the growth of the Museum Park. Spanning over 160 acres, the Park intersects her life-long interests of land conservation and the Arts.

In honor of Ernest McSwain's studies at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and due to her love of education, Ruby played an important role in the university through her willingness to better the institution's outreach for its students and community. Ruby made a substantial gift to the JC Raulston Arboretum at N.C. State University in order to fund the state-of-the-art Ruby C. McSwain Education Center building and complex in 2002. She served on the university's Agricultural Foundation Board, was inducted in 2003 into the William Joseph Peele Society of N.C. State, and, in 2005, received one of N.C. State University's highest honors, an honorary doctorate in humane letters. She was also given the 2010 Award of Merit by the N.C. State University's Alumni Association.

Most notably, in 2001, Ruby C. McSwain was elected into The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, by the governor, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary.

While her husband, parents, and siblings have all gone before her, Ruby made many friends in her lifetime, which are too numerous to list. She was loved and cared for until her last earthly moments by those that consider her better than family, including Lynn Blackmon, his wife, Anita, and their two children. She will be remembered for far more than her awards and merits; those memories not limited to her love for painting, fondness for her Dalmatian dog "Dottie Woo," Werther's Original candies, antiques, magnolia trees, hydrangeas, Easter egg hunts, a daily lunch of pork tenderloin, the occasional dessert, cup of tea, and a good story.

Miss Ruby will be loved and remembered fondly, not to be forgotten, and those friends and family will honor her legacy and wishes for continued philanthropic efforts for years to come.

Arrangements and condolences will be made through Miller-Boles Funeral Home of Sanford, NC. A viewing will be held at First Baptist Church in Sanford, 202 Summit Drive, at 2 pm on Thursday, September 3rd, followed by the funeral service at 3 pm. Burial will follow at Buffalo Church Cemetery.

Online condolences may be left at www.millerboles.com

Miller-Boles Funeral Home of Sanford is assisting the family.