Ethel Ruth Berry

Mrs. Berry was born January 10, 1911 in Gatesville, TX and passed away June 13, 2014 in a Huntington nursing facility. She was the daughter of the late Edna Elizabeth (Goodwin) and James Roe Ament.

She was the strongest and the most hardworking person her family has ever known. As a young girl, she helped her father with many jobs from hewing logs to making coffins. She worked the fields, mothered her siblings, helped her grandparents on their farm and did any job needed. She raised four children, built her own house, worked on her vehicles, did plumbing and handled anything life threw at her. After retiring at the age of 72 from the State School and several nursing homes in our area, she started volunteering. She sat with “old people”, quilted at the Senior Citizens Center and the Adult Day Care. The Texas Forestry Museum presented her with an award for all of her help. One of her favorite things to do was to make quilts for children’s homes so that they would have something of their own. She was our leader, our hero and our moral compass.

She is survived by daughters and sons-in-law, Betty Ruth Fletcher and husband, James of Lufkin, Martha Carole Berry of Springfield, MO; Sherry Elizabeth and Talmadge Hyde of Lufkin, and daughter-in-law, Linda Lee Berry; grandchildren, Mike and Wanda Fletcher, Dennis and Toni Fletcher, Martha and Ken Keely, Robert Fletcher, T. J. and Ken Yeates, Leigh Ann and Richard Bass, Chris McKnight, Jamie and Karli Arnold, Andy and Brenda Wright, Dana and Brad Drinkwater, Emily Duke, Stefanie and Michael Hicks, and Jennifer Kleiman, Brent Hyde and Tanya Howard, Julie and John Cooper; 26 great-grandchildren; 17 great-great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews and other relatives. She loved them all!

In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by husband, I. D. Berry; son, Irving Ray Berry; grandson, Tony Childers; great-granddaughter, Cheyanne Fletcher; and 7 brothers and sisters.

Pallbearers will be Andy Wright, Dennis Fletcher, Mike Fletcher, Garrett Wright, Wesley Paine, and Brad Drinkwater.

The family will receive friends from 1:00 p.m. to service time at the funeral home.

Condolences may be offered at www.gipsonfuneralhome.com

Services have been placed in the trust of Gipson Funeral Home.