Ruth Grace Zibart

Ruth Grace Zibart

Ruth Grace Zibart, professor of French at Vanderbilt University and later the first woman elevated to Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, slipped away in her sleep on Dec. 26, three days after her 101st birthday.

Ruth was born Dec. 23, 1919, to Vinnie Gentry and Lawrence Grace, Baxter's first banker, and a small businessman with a very large library. Her parents instilled in her a love of learning, a passion for excellence, and the ability to care about and take a real interest in the lives of other people.

Ruth grew up in a rural town of less than two square miles. Baxter, Tn. was also the site of a landmark Methodist seminary, chartered in 1910, that emphasized both a broad vision of education as well as a rigorous moral character, denying diplomas to any students for cursing, gambling, drinking, "loafing," "boisterousness," or tobacco use. She was a stellar student, graduating with honors in 1937.

She went first to Tennessee Technological University (then Tennessee Polytechnic Institute) in Cookeville, where she was elected May Queen before graduating in 1941; then earned a master's degree at Vanderbilt in 1942. She returned to Baxter Seminary briefly to teach English and history, but in 1943 she moved to Washington, DC, to work in the cryptography section of the War Department's Signal Corps. She remained there for two years before moving to Marion College in Virginia to teach French.

From 1947 to 1957 she taught French at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. Beginning in 1957 she alternated her teaching duties at DePauw with the pursuit of graduate studies in French at the University of Michigan where her elder brother Frank Grace was a professor of political science. At Michigan, she was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, and was awarded her doctorate with honors in 1964. At that time she was invited to teach at Vanderbilt, where she remained for over two decades. She retired as Professor Emerita in 1985.

Ruth had "many admirers," as she used to say, but remained single until 1969, when she married Alan Zibart, co-owner of Nashville's Zibart Bros. bookstores. They enjoyed a wonderful and loving partnership until Alan's death in 1995.

Ruth was known in her family as the "mother of all aunts". She used to remark that for someone who bore nothing, her "offspring" were legion - three nieces, four nephews, two stepchildren and two step grandchildren, 15 great-nieces and nephews, and 14 great-great family members. All of them experienced her love and devotion to them as she played a vital part in each of their lives. Stepson Michael Zibart, his wife Margaret and their daughters Emily and Mary Claire Zibart, and nephew Frank Grace, Jr., reside in Nashville. Her other nephews are Larry Grace of Ann Arbor, Paul Grace of San Diego, Ca., and Dr. James Grace in North Shores, Mich. Her nieces include Nancy Czujko of Silver Spring, Md., Mary Roberts of Fairfax Station, Va., and Ann Ross of Clinton, Tn. Her stepdaughter Eve Zibart lives in Washington Grove, Md. In addition to her husband and her parents, Ruth was predeceased by her siblings, Nancy, Frank and Robert, and by her nephew John Patrick Grace.

The family wishes to express its heartfelt gratitude to the staff at the Health Center at Richland Place and particularly the nurses and caregivers on the assisted living floor. Ruth will be cremated, in accordance with her wishes, and interred in the Grace family plot in Baxter. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Alan W. and Ruth Grace Zibart Fund for Arts and Letters at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee in Nashville.