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Mary Ruth Franklin Jeffries died August 30, 2019, in Orange Park, Florida, at the age of 100. She was born January 7, 1919, in Danielsville, Georgia, to Marvin Augustus and Ruth Tuck Franklin. With her two brothers and sister, she moved with her father, a Methodist minister, and her mother throughout the South. He was pastor of Highlands United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, when he was elected Bishop of the United Methodist Church in 1948, and he served as President of the Worldwide Council of Bishops from 1960-1962. Mary Ruth attended Lee High School, Jacksonville; graduated from Ramsay High School, Birmingham, in 1937, attended Birmingham-Southern College, and earned a BA from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1941. She met William Worthington Jeffries, also from Birmingham, at Vanderbilt, where he was completing his doctorate in history. They married in 1940 and moved to Oxford, Mississippi, where Bill taught at the University of Mississippi. In 1942, Bill was assigned to the United States Naval Academy as an officer instructor, and he was a member of the faculty there until 1989, serving as history professor and civilian head of department, founding director of the USNA Archives, and director of the Naval Academy Museum. He died in 1989. Thanks largely to the efforts of Mary Ruth, the William W. Jeffries Memorial Archives was dedicated at the USNA in 1991. While raising her family, Mary Ruth was a devoted wife and mother, instilling in her children the love of family, learning, and service to others. She had a mischievous sense of humor that she passed on to her children, and she provided important support, often in person, to her far-flung family. She taught her children to persevere, to keep putting one foot in front of the other without complaint, no matter the hardships and heartaches. In essential ways, she was the pillar of the family. Mary Ruth enjoyed reading, cooking, cross stitching, and walking, and was active in a number of service organizations and the Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity. Her five children and their spouses survive her: John and Renate Jeffries, Catonsville, Maryland; Susan and Robert Schwartz, Corvallis, Oregon; Trudy and Michael Parker, Spring Hill, Tennessee; Margaret and Mark Huey, Dallas, Texas; and Virginia and Walter Pillsbury, Orange Park, Florida. She had eighteen grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren. In addition to her husband, her parents, her brothers, sister, and first grandchild preceded her in death. Funeral services will be held Monday September 9, 2019, at Highlands United Methodist Church in Birmingham (where she was married when her father was pastor) and burial will be in Forest Hill Cemetery in Birmingham.

Published in The Birmingham News on Sept. 8, 2019