Ruth Williams Vordenbaumen

Ruth Williams Vordenbaumen, 95, passed on to the next life peacefully in her home on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. Ruth was born on Dec. 15, 1914, in the village of Mer Rouge to Mary Emma Davenport Williams and Alex Norwood Williams. Ruth was a descendent of a family that served as pioneer settlers of Morehouse Parish. She graduated from LSU in 1935 and spent most of her life in Baton Rouge. She was a faithful member of St. James Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, where her late husband, George Caldwell Vordenbaumen, was a member of the vestry and served as senior warden of that vestry. She served as an active participant in the many activities of the Episcopal Church Women. Ruth was dedicated to service and working with other women as a mentor and a friend. She was an active lifelong member of Kappa Delta sorority, serving as a chairwoman of the chapter advisory board to Epsilon Chapter-LSU in Baton Rouge, province president, regional chapter director, national vice president of collegians, and an alternate delegate to the National Panhellenic Council. Ruth received the Order of the Emerald Award for her many years of dedication and service to Kappa Delta. Additionally, the Ruth Williams Vordenbaumen Award is given each year by Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Delta to an outstanding senior member of the Panhellenic Council at LSU. Ruth was also a sustaining member of the Junior League of Baton Rouge and a dedicated member of the Novel Club. She was proud of her family‚¬„¢s heritage and service to our country. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Society of the Colonial Dames in America, Baton Rouge and River Parishes Committee. Ruth lived a full life shared with family and friends. She and her husband loved to travel and brought home treasures from all over the globe for her granddaughters. Ruth was a strong person with a lively spirit and an engaging personality. She said what she thought and inspired other women to strive to be confident and successful. Ruth was preceded in death by six of her siblings, Dr. Guy Davenport Williams, Col. Alex Norwood Williams, Mrs. Mary Emma Williams Wilson, Mrs. Sarah Jane Williams Rankin, Miss Nellwyn Williams and Dr. Joe Boyd Williams. She will be remembered with love by her surviving family: her sister, Kathleen Williams Meek; her children, Polly Vordenbaumen Voorhies, Nellwyn Vordenbaumen East and her husband Randy, George Caldwell Vordenbaumen Jr. and his wife, Debra; her five granddaughters, Marcelle Voorhies Rossman and her husband, Adam, Nellwyn Voorhies-Kantak and her husband, Dirk, Ruth Voorhies and her husband, Joseph Ellis, Rachel Spiller Garrett and her husband, Dr. Paul Garrett, and Dr. Catherine Caldwell Spiller and her husband, William Rosenbaum; and a grandson, John East. She is also survived by her nine great-grandchildren, Matthew Garrett, Anna Garrett, William Garrett, Alexander East, Benjamin Rossman, Maxwell Rossman, Daniel Perlow, George Ellis and Reed Ellis. Visitation will be at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government St., on Sunday, Feb. 21, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The Burial Office and Requiem Eucharist will be held for her at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Mer Rouge on Monday, Feb. 22, at 1 p.m. with visiting in the church Parish Hall beginning at noon. Following the service she will be laid to rest beside her late husband in the Mer Rouge Cemetery. The family extends special thanks to her long-term caregivers, Donna Bailey, Annie Stokes, Hilda Blacher and Patricia Dunn, for their loving care and companionship. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Mer Rouge, St. James Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, to the Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Delta 100th Anniversary Gift to LSU or to a favorite charity. The address is LSU Foundation/Dalrymple Gateway Project c/o Jamie Segar, Director of Development Division of Student Life, 128 Johnston Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.