Ruth W. Anthon

Ruth W. Anthon, 91, a 50-year resident of Lacombe, passed away at St. Tammany Parish Hospital on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. She was born in Jackson, Mississippi, to the late Mary Ruth and Charles Walker Sr.

Ruth had a volunteer's heart who yearned to help people anyway she could. She was one of the founding members of the Bayou Lacombe Women's Republican Club and served several terms as club president. Ruth also volunteered at St. Tammany Parish Hospital for 19 years and accrued 5,000 hours of volunteer time.

She was a devout Christian who loved God and her church. She and her late husband, Merlin, were both Officers of the Salvation Army in Louisville, Kentucky, in the early 1960s.

Ruth loved knitting, sewing, crossword puzzles and singing God's praise whenever she could. Ruth enjoyed cooking for her family, friends, and church family, especially her blackberry cobbler, which will be sorely missed.

Her family was her reason for living, mainly her precious grandchildren and great-grandchildren, spoiling them as much as she could. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

She is survived by her children, Charles Anthon, Allan Anthon (Melissa), Merle Harper (Alton), James Anthon, Barbara Maille (Donald); 14 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and her brother, Charles Walker II (Cathy).

Preceding her in death were her husband of 64 years, Merlin Anthon; parents, Mary Ruth and Charles Walker Sr.; brother, Gerald Walker; and daughter-in-law, Karen Anthon.

Friends and family are invited to attend the visitation on Sunday, April 27, at New Beginnings Christian Church, 42418 S. Range Rd. Hammond, Louisiana, from 1 p.m. until the Celebration of Life Service at 3 p.m. Bro. Jean Kalenga will be officiating the services with a private interment at Southeast Louisiana Veteran Cemetery in Slidell at a later date.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Harry McKneely & Son Funeral Home.