Born on October 19, 1925, Ruth lived through most of the 20th century and through nearly two decades of the 21st century until Jesus took her home on January 25, 2018. Ruth’s life is highlighted by her 50 years of marriage to her first husband, Robert Farmer, and their raising four children (Cheryl, Cynda, Craig, and Michael) and seven grandchildren. Several years after Robert Farmer’s death in 1999, Ruth married Paul Stingel, who was a friend from her early life in Ohio. Ruth and Paul lived in New Braunfels, TX until he died in 2012. In 2013, Ruth moved to Plano, TX where she lived with her daughter Cynda and son-in-law Gary until her death.
Ruth embraced adventure and the rigors of travel when she and her family moved from their birthplace and homestead in Ohio to Odessa, TX during the height of the oil boom in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the middle 1960s, she and her family moved again to Tulsa, OK. While in Oklahoma, Ruth volunteered with the Red Cross, was an active member of the First Christian Church, and enjoyed worldwide travel with her husband Robert to countries in Europe and the Mediterranean.
During the early 1970s, Ruth accepted the challenges of college while working full-time and earned a degree in accounting which she daily applied during a 20-year career with CITGO Oil Company as a senior accountant. As grandchildren populated the family, she added the role of fulltime grandmother to her life skills and shared an abiding love with her seven grandchildren and later great-grandchildren.
Ruth lived a fulfilling and faith-filled life. During her lifetime of 92 years, she witnessed many changes and challenges in America and in the world which she, as a member of the Greatest Generation, resolved through hard work, determination, and faith. In her youth, she endured and overcame the Great Depression and World War II. Ruth believed that such problems were solved by working hard, never backing away from what often seemed insurmountable odds, and seeking God’s Will through prayer.
Ruth’s life did bring some sorrows during her lifetime: the death of her parents, her two husbands, her eldest daughter Cheryl and youngest son Michael. She believed that God’s plan for her life would lead her from the valley of sorrows to the bright sunshine of contentment and happiness. God did grant her peace and love in her retirement years. She was sustained by the love of her surviving children and grandchildren and the fellowship of her friends. She lived a life in an era that was filled with economic upheavals, world conflict, as well as technological and medical advancements that dazzle our imaginations, such as the inventions of the bandaid, Scotch Tape, TV, computers, the Internet, MRIs, astronauts walking on the Moon, and Elvis.
Ruth led a blessed life—a life of love, hope, and fulfillment. She was blessed by the love of her parents, Ben and Lulu Conkle; her husband, Robert Dean Farmer; her second husband, Paul Stingel; her daughter Cheryl Farmer Maly; her son, Michael Bentley Farmer—all of whom preceded her in death. Her legacy continues through her daughter Cynda Wilson and her husband Gary of Plano, TX; her son, Robert Craig Farmer and his wife Debbie of Killeen, TX; Ruth’s brother, Allen Conkle and his wife Jean of Columbus Ohio; and also her grandchildren: Kirk Farmer, Linda Farmer Hales, Cody Lisa Marie Farmer, John M. Wilson, Jennifer Wilson Urban; Brent Farmer, Robert Brian Farmer, William Farmer; and, numerous great-grandchildren, nephews, and nieces.
We honor Ruth today at this memorial service and give thanks to God for her amazing life as Christ’s good and faithful servant.
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