HILL, Ruby S., returned to be with the Lord on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, less than a month after her 89th birthday. She was the widow of Charles P. Hill, who passed in March 2008; they were married for 65 years. Ruby was the third of 13 children born to the late Robert and Ollie Boone of Ahoskie, N.C. Ruby helped to send her older sister, Selma, to college, and she later joined her sister there and graduated in three years from A&T State University. It was at A&T that she met and later married the handsome and always humorous, Charles Hill of New York, and to that union two daughters were born, Carol Ann and Beverly. The hallmark of Ruby's life was hard work and while her undergraduate and graduate degrees were in business, which she pursued for purely practical purposes, she later explored her real passion and received a Master's Degree in Art. She taught business and art in the inner city schools of New York and retired with over 25 years of service. She moved with her husband and daughter to Richmond in 2002 to be closer to her younger daughter, and granddaughters, Julie Richardson and C. Lisa Murray, and great-granddaughter, Beverly Marie Richardson. Ruby cherished her family more than anything and was especially happy for the relationships she had with the younger generation of nieces and nephews. Although her health began to fail, she never stopped doing her Sudoku and Jumble in the morning papers and never ever gave up doing what needed to be done to try to maintain her health, in spite of the physical hardship and toll it took on her. She was the most wonderful and giving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt and mentor to many others who considered her a surrogate mother. Survivors include many cousins and her brothers and sisters-in-law, Walter and Jean Boone, Stewart and Mary Boone, and brother, Leroy Boone; and sisters, Emma King, Lucy Boone and Anne Lambert; her aunt who she always said was more like a sister, Mae Bell and her husband, Dr. Hiram Bell; her uncle and aunt, Leon and Idell Boone, and her extended family of in-laws, Mamie Murray, Edward W. Murray, Hermoine Barber and Jimmy Murray. To those whom she loved and who loved her, she was such an integral part of their lives and a blessing. She fought the good fight every day of her life and finally and forever rests in peace in the arms of her Creator, her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There will be a wake on Saturday, July 11 at Reynolds Funeral Home, 321 N. Maple Street, Ahoskie, N.C. (252)332-2337 from 4 to 7 p.m. Services will be on Sunday, July 12 with fellowship from noon to 1 p.m., and services to begin at 1 p.m. at Philippi Baptist Church, 465 Rt. 45, Coefield, N.C. 27922.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
