Ruth Adams Lewis

Ruth Adams Lewis went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on July 27, 2016. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, July 30, 2016 at Leak Memory Chapel in Montgomery, Alabama with Reverend Chuck Ashley officiating. The burial will be in Greenwood Serenity Cemetery. The family will accept friends from 10-11:00 AM, prior to the service. Leak Memory Chapel is directing.

Ruth was born in Albany, Georgia, to William Richard and Nina Orr Adams. She lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Virginia; England; and Bordeaux, France, before moving to Montgomery in 1965. Ruth graduated from Tennessee State Teachers College (now Middle Tennessee State University), was a Stewardess with American Airlines when the Douglass DC-3 was in use, and was an elementary school teacher at Dalraida and Bellingrath schools in Montgomery, Alabama.

Ruth was the beloved wife of Col. Rupert S. Lewis and mother of their beloved daughter Carol Lewis Heideman, both of whom predeceased her. She was also predeceased by her mother and father, step father William Preston Scales, and sister Evelyn Adams Goldthwaite.

Ruth had a great love of her Lord Jesus Christ and her family and her friends. She was a member of First Baptist Church where she had served with the Grief Ministry and as a Sunday School teacher. She was very interested in beautification of the City of Montgomery and was appointed chairman of the Avenue of Oaks under Keep Montgomery Beautiful, Inc. for the purpose of planting live oak trees to create a beautiful entrance from Dannelly Field-the Montgomery Regional Airport-into Montgomery. In 1979, four hundred seventy five (475) live oak trees were planted and this Avenue of Oaks remained under Ruth's watch under the umbrella of the Montgomery Clean City Commission. She was the first recipient of the Betty Fitzgerald Award for dedication and commitment to beautification of Montgomery's Avenue of Oaks. Ruth served as Chairman of the Flowering Tree Trail under Keep Montgomery Beautiful, Inc. and in that capacity oversaw the planting of 2,500 flowering trees throughout Montgomery. She had a special interest in live oak trees being planted on the campus at Auburn University at Montgomery. She was a member of the Clean City Commission and on the Advisory Board.

Ruth served as Chairman of the Gunter Air Force Base Pre-School Board (when Gunter was recognized under that name) and in leadership capacities in various organizations including the Retired Officers' Wives' Club, the Montgomery Music Study Club, the Alabama State Federation of Music Clubs, the Daffodil Garden Club, and the Athenian Club. She was a member of the Montgomery Symphony League, the National Association of Parliamentarians, the Montgomery Association of Parliamentarians, and a French language club she called la Petite French Club.

Ruth is survived by her sister Wilma Adams Wright, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; son-in-law John Heideman, of Houston, Texas; grandchildren Diana Ruth Heideman McClure, of San Jose, California, and Paul Rupert Heideman (April), of Winnsboro, Louisiana; gr-grandchildren Constance Elin Heideman and Rhett Paul Heideman, of Winnsboro, Louisiana; nephews and niece James Charles Wright (Kimberly), of Knoxville, Tennessee, William Taylor Wright, Wayne Cleveland Wright [Creeda], Randall Adams Wright (Regina), Richard Steven Wright (Kim), David Kennedy Wright, and Wilma Ann Wright Tarpley of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; gr-niece Brittany Tarpley, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; nephew and nieces Alfred Goldthwaite (Susan), Mary Goldthwaite Perry (Dudley), of Montgomery, Alabama, and Ellen Goldthwaite, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; loving gr-niece Anna Perry, of Montgomery, Alabama; and many great and gr-gr-nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the Carol Lewis Heideman Endowment at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for research with Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Cancer, P. O. Box 301439, Houston, 1)( 77230-1439, or to a charity of one's choice.