Delilah "Ruth" Griffith

Delilah Ruth Griffith died peacefully in her sleep on February 26, 2026, in Blue Springs, Missouri, at the age of 95. She was born February 17, 1931, to Ed and Flora Yeaste, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Named after her Aunt Ruth who adored her, her family called her "Ruthie."

Ruth enjoyed a happy childhood despite growing up during the Depression years. Active in many school activities, she was a popular cheerleader and gymnast in high school. Upon graduation, she joined the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

A devout Christian, she was once reprimanded for hanging posters in the women's bathrooms that read "Thou Shalt Not Take the Name of the Lord Thy God in Vain." Though confined to barracks for three days for the act, Ruth would later reminisce with a twinkle in her eye that she had "made her point."

She met her future husband, Hoyt Griffith, an Air Force Staff Sergeant, in Arlington, Virginia, where she served as a stenographer at the Pentagon. To her delight, her superior officer – a Colonel who was required to clock flight hours each month – flew Ruth in a military plane to Lexington, Kentucky, for her wedding. Eventually settling in Virginia, Ruth and Hoyt raised four children.

A stay-at-home mother, she later owned and operated a Christian bookstore in Rocky Mount, Virginia, and enjoyed attending bookseller conventions across the country, meeting many authors she admired such as Corrie ten Boom and Joni Eareckson Tada. She attended Franklin Heights Church and especially enjoyed working in the nursery on Sundays for many years, which she felt was her ministry.

Her gentle and loving spirit was evident in her contagious smile. She loved to play parlor games, board games, and card games, and though she might lose (sometimes on purpose), she made every game more fun by her participation.

Her seven grandchildren will always remember Grandma's laughter and homemade chocolate pies. (She once said those pies took two hours to make, and ten minutes to be consumed by family, but she loved baking them!)

When Ruth and Hoyt moved to Missouri in 2018, she joined First Baptist Church in West Plains, and retained her optimism and generous spirt, even after her husband passed away in 2021.

She always considered her cup half-full, if not running over, and we are filled with thanksgiving that she was our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and the heart of our family.

Survivors include three daughters, Della Marie Griffith and Dixie Pohlman of Virginia, Diane Smithey and son-in-law, Louis, of Missouri, and son, Mark Griffith, of Florida; grandchildren include Tanner (Kara) Griffith, NC, Ashley DiMeola, VT, Daniel (Meredith) Griffith, FL, Michael (Lindsey) Griffith, FL, Elizabeth Griffith, FL, Samuel (Sharon) Smithey of MO, and Jack (Emily) Smithey of MO; and seven great-grandchildren, including the youngest ones in Missouri who called her "Gigi." She loved her nieces and nephews as well, with a special regard for nephews Andy Yeaste of Ohio and Tony Thomas of Kentucky, who kept in touch with their Aunt Ruthie through the years.

A visitation will be held on Monday, March 2, 2023, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM at Walnut Lawn Funeral Home, Ltd., Springfield, MO. A committal service will follow at 1:00 PM at Missouri Veterans Cemetery where full military honors will be rendered. Ruth will then be laid with her beloved husband of 69 years.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Franklin Heights Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia, or the Gideons International.

Arrangements are under the direction of Walnut Lawn Funeral Home in Springfield, MO.