Ruth Trotter Stinson

Edna Ruth Wheeler Trotter Stinson passed away peacefully on February 24, 2021 at the age of 90 after battling Alzheimer’s disease at Patriots Colony Convalescent Center. Mrs. Stinson was born in Narrows, Giles County, Virginia on October 20, 1930 to Arthur Martin Wheeler and Nora Ethel Richardson Wheeler. She attended Radford College where she was a member of the German Club and was an attendant in the May Court for 2 years. She married E. Donald Trotter, a student at Virginia Tech in August of 1950, before her senior year and moved to Newport News where she resided for 67 years. She worked at Lee Hall Elementary School as a Teachers Aide and also in the office. She also became a tour guide with Colonial Williamsburg taking bus loads of children and explaining the history of CW. In between raising her four children and working she also went to classes at William and Mary, spent a summer going to Radford and finally finished up her B.A. in elementary education at Christopher Newport in 1978. She taught the 5th grade at Denbigh Elementary and then the 4th & 5th grades at Greenwood Elementary until she retired. She and Robert E. Stinson, Sr. were married from June of 1974 until his death in April of 2008. She was one of the founding members of the Asbury United Methodist Church in Newport News. She loved working outdoors and planting a garden and flowers and visiting her longtime neighbors. She loved history and reading fiction and non-fiction books and cooking. She loved attending UVA football games where she and Bob would have fun tailgate parties. She also loved basketball games and played when she was in high school at Narrows High. She would come outside and play basketball with her children and their friends. Ruth Stinson was preceded in death by her husband Robert E. Stinson, Sr.; her parents, Arthur M. & Nora E. Richardson Wheeler; her brothers and their wives, Russell E. & Rosetta Agee Wheeler; Arthur Lee & Rheda Dalton Wheeler; James Erroll & Reba Hare Wheeler; Paul I. Wheeler; Harry D. & Betty DeBusk Wheeler. She is survived by her children Michael C. & Dee Price Trotter of Williamsburg; Donna L. Trotter of Dublin, VA; Thomas S. & Marianne Rice Trotter of Christiansburg; Susan Trotter Brown, of Raleigh, NC; and a step son, Robert E. Stinson, Jr. of Berea, KY. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Brandy Buchanan (Lal Harter), Sarah Buchanan Montgomery (Seth), Michelle Trotter Hodges (Blake), Christopher Trotter (Annabelle), Thomas Trotter (Jennifer Clark), Kelly P. Trotter (Terrell Burkes), Daniel L. Harris (Chong), Michael Brown (Jade), Jessica Brown Linak (Scott) and Chase Stinson; great grandchildren, Aiden, Liam & Treslyn Harter; Tatem & Tyson Trotter; Mark & Price Hodges; Aislinn & Skyler Montgomery; Brayden & Kendrick Burkes; Bella Harris; Eloise & Theodore Trotter; Harper & Ethan Brown; and by many nieces and nephews. Funeral Services will be held later in the spring at the Birchlawn Burial Park Cemetery in Pearisburg, VA where she will be laid to rest with her family. The family would like to thank the caregivers at Patriots Colony for taking such good care of our mother the last few years and the Riverside Hospice group who helped make her crossing over easier. Donations in Ruth’s memory can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, Home Office, 225 N. Michigan Ave, Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601 (www.act.alz.org/donate) or the Cancer Research Institute, Web Donation, 29 Broadway, Fl. 4, New York, NY 10006-3111 (www.cancerresearch.org). Online condolences may be shared at www.nelsenwilliamsburg.com.