Ruby Jewel Jordan

Ruby Jewel (Sanders) Jordan was born March 1, 1926 in Braggs, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Lucille (Lyman) Sanders. She grew up with four brothers; Herman Thornton, Sequoyah Sanders, Louis Sanders, and Thomas Stokes Sanders; and three sisters; Margaret Redmon, Rachel Austin, and Delilah Kelley. She attended grade school at Wyandotte Indian Boarding School, and later attended Bagley High School in Tahlequah.

Ruby worked at Griffins Food Company and Egan Manufacturing in Muskogee—where she met and married the love of her life, Troy Edward Jordan, on July 31, 1944, during World War II. Together they raised a family of two sons, Alvin Edward and Melvin Henry Jordan. Ruby loved her family more than anything. She was “Mema” to grandkids, great-grandkids, and a whole passel of nieces, nephews, and assorted other kids who were swept into her loving arms to be cared for. Mema could be found pointing out birds, frogs, insects, and questionable plants to impressionable children. She doctored cuts and scrapes with one hand while wiping away tears with the other. She mixed strawberry Quick to order, played Chinese Checkers late into the night, and read “Number 9: The Little Fire Engine” more times than can be counted. She fed everybody that came to her house whether they were hungry or not, everyone got a plate. She counted animals as people in this matter, often to the dismay of her husband, who often complained that his beagles were too fat to hunt.

Ruby dedicated her free time to picking, canning, and preserving the family’s expansive garden. She put up purple hull peas, green beans, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, squash, greens, and anything else that Pepa planted. She peeled and sliced cantaloupe, and served slices of watermelon with a saltshaker nearby. With a Dr. Pepper in her hand, she tended the fruit and nut trees growing on the property.

Ruby loved to go water skiing, spending time taking grandkids to their sporting events, and attending various church services. Ruby learned to drive at the age of 10, when she and her sister, Margaret, secretly spied on their brother as he drove their dad around. Ruby would drive forward and backward in the yard when no one was looking, learning to manipulate levers, gears, and pedals. Then, she and Margaret would wipe away any traces of their illicit behavior. She was eventually caught, and put to work as her dad’s chauffeur. From then on, she believed cars had two speeds, parked and gas pedal to the floor. There was simply no time to be wasted between starting point and destination.

As a stout Christian, Ruby believed prayer was the answer to any of life’s many quandaries. She prayed for individuals, groups, situations, the lame, the lost, the lonely, the forgotten, the unloved, the weather, crops, and meals aplenty. More than one meal went cold when Ruby started praying and “got happy.” Talking to the Lord came first. You could eat later. She laid hands on the sick whether they were adults, children, hunting dogs, pets, or weak-looking plants. Everybody and everything needed prayer.

Her beloved Troy passed from this life in 2011. She found it hard to smile for a while after his loss, but she soon put her family’s needs ahead of her own and did everything she could to keep the holidays happy. Her health began to decline in the last few years, and the Lord took this wonderful prayer warrior to her peaceful rest on October 6, 2022 in Tahlequah surrounded by the family she loved so much in life. She was 96 years old and will not be forgotten.

She is preceded in death by her grandparents; Lewis Josuah Sanders and his wife, Maud Ellen (Parson) Sanders; and William Lyman and wife, Susie (Young) Lyman. She joins her mother and father; her husband, Troy; four brothers, Herman, Sequoyah, Louis, and Thomas; and one sister, Margaret; as well as a daughter in law, Susie Jordan.

Ruby will be lovingly remembered by her children, Alvin Edward Jordan and Melvin Henry Jordan, and daughter-in-law, Sherrie. She will be missed by her sisters, Rachel Austin and Delilah Kelly, both of Muskogee. She lives on in her six grandchildren, Brett Jordan, Kimberly Barnett and husband Dennis, Melvin Thomas Jordan and wife Tiffany, Sarah Geary, Melvin Edward Jordan and wife Audrey, and Elizabeth Majors. She also leaves her fourteen great grandchildren, Kyle Jordan, Ashley Jordan, Dustin Jordan, Victoria Jordan, Clistia Geary, Lexis Barnett, Quayson Jordan, Michael Dale Jordan, Genesis Hinton, Lexie Jordan, Cheyenne Jordan, Israel Houston, Aubrey Ballentine, Amari Houston, and great great grandchildren, Eli Jordan, Jolena Jordan, Jasmyn Jordan, and Jathan Jordan as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, and a host of friends and loved ones too numerous to mention.

The Jordan family offers a special “Thank You” to the staff at Sequoyah Pointe for the dedication they showed to Ruby in her final years.

Graveside services for Ruby Jewel (Sanders) Jordan are Friday, October 14, 2022 at 10:00 AM at Holland Cemetery with Chaplain Rodnie Groomer of Good Shepherd Hospice officiating. Ruby is being laid to rest next to her husband Troy Edward Jordan at Holland. Pallbearers for Ruby include M. Thomas Jordan, Dennis Barnett, Melvin Edward Jordan, Kyle Jordan, Dwayne Miller, Mike Kelley, Tom Kelley, and Tom Sanders. The family is receiving visitors on Thursday, October 13, 2022 from 1:00 PM until 7:00 PM at Reed-Culver Funeral Home.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.reedculver.com for the Jordan family.