Life is but a vapor, here for a little while then fadest away. Ruth Ella Mackey Belcher was born June 19, 1936, in Sayersville, Texas. She was the third child born to Isaiah Perkins and Helen Thompson Perkins.
Ruth accepted Christ at an early age and was baptized into Winn’s Memorial Baptist Church in Elgin, Texas, under the pastoral leadership of the late Reverend G.M. Releford. She attended and graduated from Washington High School in Elgin, Texas.
Ruth united in marriage to Sammy Mackey and to this union three children were born, son Willie Jean Mackey and two daughters: Bertha Robinson and Jacqueline (William) Smith.
Ruth moved to Austin, Texas, in 1966 and later married Rufus Belcher. She joined the Greater Swenson Grove Baptist Church in Austin, Texas where she served diligently on the usher board until her health began to fail. She retired from the Austin State School as a supervisor after 25 years of service.
She is welcomed into eternity by her mother, Helen Perkins; father, Gold Perkins; three brothers, Isaiah Perkins, Jr. (Sonny), Alfred Perkins (Buster), and Douglas Perkins; her sister, Hallie Mae Henderson; her son, Willie Jean Mackey; and her husband, Rufus Belcher.
Cherishing her memory are her devoted sister, Alice Faye Willis; her daughters, Bertha Robinson and Jacqueline (William) Smith; and her stepchildren, LaNell (Roger) Craig, Thelma (Reginald) Evans, Gary Belcher, and Sharon Jackson.
She is lovingly remembered by her grandsons, DeJuan Mackey and T. Jibrie Smith (Little Dude); her beautiful granddaughter, Janae Smith (Nae Nae); and a host of step-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and treasured friends.
