Ruth Sims Harris

Eula Ruth Sims was born in Miami, Florida to Rev. John C. Sims and Mattie Morris Fowler Sims on March 13, 1924. (She hated that first name. It won't be mentioned again.) She graduated from Putnam High School in Palatka, Florida in 1941 and went on to earn an associate degree at Mars Hill (North Carolina) College.
In 1944, her high school sweetheart, Thomas Bernard Ladd (Tommy), married her in Miami. She then travelled to Corpus Christi, TX and San Diego, CA with him while he served in WWII. She returned to Florida when he went to the Pacific front carrying (in utero) her firstborn Thomas, Jr. After the war, they spent 4 years in Gainesville, FL where Tommy earned his bachelors and she worked as a secretary for Florida Power and Light.
In 1950, they moved to her father's farm in the St. Marks community of Meriwether County outside of Hogansville. They welcomed sons David (1953) and Steven (1955) while she and Tommy taught school in Luthersville. Tommy later worked at Uniroyal in Hogansville. In the late 50s they moved to Atlanta where Tommy attended Georgia Tech and she served as a secretary to the pastor of First Baptist Decatur and later with Puritan Chemical. Son Mark was born in 1961.
The family moved to Griffin in 1962 where Tommy was employed with the University of Georgia's Agricultural Experiment Station. Michael was born here in 1965. Five sons spread over a 20 year span. In these years, Ruth did not have to work outside the home and enjoyed many years as a piano teacher, sharing her love of music with scores of children and adults. She served many churches throughout her life, always active in choir or as an accompanist.
1969 was a difficult year as her father, affectionately known to the family as "Poddy," passed away in the same month that Tommy had to take disability from the effects of what would later be diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis. This necessitated a move back to the farm in St. Marks where Ruth (with selfless assistance from her elderly mother) raised her sons and nursed her bedridden husband until his death in 1974.
In 1978, God did quite the miracle when her widowed college sweetheart showed up out of the blue. Robert Harris (Bob) married Ruth in 1979 and this began her 12 year career with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board), serving alongside Bob as a pastor's wife, church musician, and church planter in Bermuda. This also expanded her role as a mom, becoming step-mother to Bob's three children, Mary Carol, Bobby and Ruthie. Her mother, "Mom" to all her children and grandchildren, was with them when she passed away in 1990. Bob and Ruth returned to St. Marks in 1991 and built a home for retirement that she designed on a napkin at a lunch with the builder.
They did not retire; however, she assisted Bob playing piano at several churches where he pastored or did interim work in Meriwether and Coweta counties. They travelled to Peru and the Marshall Islands for mission work. They golfed every week and did water aerobics until Bob died in 2007. She lived on her own until the COVID lockdowns in 2020 and continued to play the piano for her church up until the very end of her life.
Ruth went to be with Jesus on the afternoon of June 21, 2025, peacefully, quickly, and painlessly in the home she and Bob built. She was active until the very last moment, planning to go shoe shopping just minutes before she left this earth.
In addition to her parents and two husbands, she was preceded in death by her oldest son, Thomas in 1999; her brother, John in 2003; her step-daughter, Mary Carol in 2023; and MC's husband, John Ard in 2018. She is survived by Thomas' wife, Ann, of Hogansville and their children, Chris Ladd and Stephanie (Danny) Spradlin, and great-grands, Chloe Ladd, and Ty, Cason, Graysan and Greer Spradlin; by David (Becky) Ladd of Colorado Springs, CO and grands, Jonathan (Katelyn) Ladd, Ben (Laura) Ladd and Rebekah (Ryan) LeFevre and great-grands, Jackson and Norah Kate Ladd; son, Steve (Debbie) Ladd of Wake Forest, NC and their children, Simon Ladd, Elizabeth (Gabriel) Franco and Aaron (Allison) Ladd and great-grands, Logan, Autumn Ruth, Eliana and Jonah Franco; son Mark Ladd of Hogansville and his children, Alexander (Alee) Ladd, Annabel (Scott) Ellis, Anthony Ladd and Alaina Ladd and great-grands, Harris and Gwendolyn Ladd and Margot Ruth, Bishop and Townes Ellis (plus Ellis baby number 4 due in August), son, Michael Ladd of Hogansville and his children Jennifer (Gerod) Roth and Nicholas (Beth) Ladd and great grand, Adelai Roth; step-son, Bobby (Maigread) Harris of Drumkeerin, Ireland and grands, Daniel (Laura) Harris and Lillian Harris; step-daughter, Ruthie (Greg) Barker of St. Simons Island, GA and step-grand, Beth (Robie) Millican and great-grands, Myla and Sheperd Millican; nephews, James (Caroline) Sims of Wilmot, NH and Peter (Pam) Sims of Hoover, AL; and several great and great-great nieces and nephews.
She also has many who have adopted her as a second mother, too many to list. However, special mention needs to be made of the entire body of Union Baptist Church, her Bermuda family, her many piano students, and her dear friend and adopted daughter Barbara Harding, who assisted Mark and Michael caring for her in her final years.
Ruth's greatest legacy is living a life that not only honored Jesus, but demonstrated the love and excellence of a life totally belonging to her Lord and Savior. To know Ruth Harris was to have encountered the love of Jesus in real time. She is now with Him face to face and her greatest prayer for each and every one of you would be that you would know Him too.
Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Friday, June 27, at Union Baptist Church in the St. Marks community of Meriwether County. Pastor Brian Haught will officiate and interment will be in the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 6 until 8 Thursday evening.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Union Baptist Church c/o John Carden, Tres., 2725 St. Marks Road, Hogansville, GA 30230
Claude A. McKibben and Sons Funeral Home of Hogansville is in charge of arrangements.