Ruth L Nicholson

Mrs. Lela Ruth (Davis) Nicholson, age 97, of Ormond Beach, FL, died Saturday, February 18, 2017, at Grand Villa Assisted Living in Ormond Beach.

Born July 19, 1919, in Eldorado, IL, Ruth was the daughter of Samuel Marshall Davis and Dora Helen (Gwaltney) Davis. At Star Baptist Church in Eldorado, she sang bass in the quartet with three of her sisters.

After moving to Detroit to work, Ruth and her first husband Jay Wilson Reed had a daughter Donna Kay. In Ruth’s marriage to Cecil G. Nicholson, she had two sons – Rickey Lynn and Tommy Glynn – and a daughter Brenda Lee.

Ruth and Cecil enjoyed their Daytona Beach vacations so much they moved to Daytona in 1965. She enjoyed being wife, mother and homemaker and hostess to the family and friends visiting from the north.

In later years Ruth and her twin sister, and best friend, Ruby Parks, shopped for treasures at the Flea Market, Goodwill, and The Salvation Army.

Ruth was preceded in death by her loving husband of 58 years, Cecil G. Nicholson, by her six sisters and their spouses – Nina Clark Forrester, Doris Carnahan, Una “Bill” Collins, Virginia “Spud” Bourland, her twin Lena Ruby Parks – one brother Ralph “Doc” Davis and his wife Mary, her great-granddaughter Nathalie Lambert-Gilliam, her nieces Carla Pulsinelli and Yvonne Nunn and her nephew Robert Johnson.

Ruth is survived by her four children – Donna (Thomas) Lambert of Kalamazoo, MI, Rick (Cheryl) Nicholson of Fort Walton Beach, Tom (Dawn) Nicholson of Deltona and daughter Brenda (J.D.) Lawrence of New Smyrna Beach; eight grandchildren – Laura (T. Conrad Gilliam) Lambert, Mark (Nancy) Lambert, Jennifer (John Polyzoides) Lambert, Kristina (Jason) Redd, Steven (Rachel) Nicholson, Lance (Ellie) Hanson, Daniel Nicholson and Rebecca (Joshua) Kennedy; fifteen great-grandchildren and many nephews and nieces and their families.

On Tuesday, February 21, there will be a visitation at 1 p.m., followed by a funeral service in the chapel of Volusia Memorial Funeral Home, 548 N. Nova Rd, Ormond Beach, FL. Interment will follow in Volusia Memorial Park, next to Cecil in the Garden of Valor. At 4 p.m. will be a reception at the funeral home for Ruth’s family and friends.

The family suggests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Veterans of Foreign Wars, Harold E. Waldron Post 1590, 1013 Veterans Court, Daytona Beach, FL 32114.