Ruby Pritchard Russell

Published 6:00 am Thursday, August 22, 2013

 Ruby Pritchard Russell, 94, passed away August 18, 2013, in Meridian, Mississippi.   Visitation and a funeral service will be held at Waller Funeral Home in Oxford, Mississippi, on Saturday, August 24, 2013.  Visitation will begin at 12:00 p.m. followed by a funeral service at 2:00 p.m.   Dr. Robert Allen, administrative pastor at First Baptist Church of Oxford, will officiate.  Burial will follow in Oxford Memorial Cemetery.

                Ruby was born in 1918 in Etta, Mississippi.  She graduated from University High School in Oxford, Mississippi.  She attended Ole Miss and lettered in archery.  The men in her family envied her as the only holder of an “M.”   After graduating from Ole Miss in 1940, she taught English in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she met Austin Russell, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot.   After a whirlwind courtship, the couple was married for 67 years.  They returned to Oxford, where Ruby was office manager for the Ole Miss Army ROTC.  Upon retirement, she was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the second highest civilian medal awarded by the U.S. Army.

                Ruby treasured her family and showed it through her love of cooking for them and any friends lucky enough to stop by. Homemade biscuits, homegrown tomatoes, and the best rolls in the state of Mississippi were just a few of her favorites. Her recipes from the farm where she grew up and the love she gave while preparing and serving them will always be remembered in the hearts of her children, grandchildren, and friends who had the pleasure to sit at her table.

                She is survived by her son, Dave Alan Russell, M.D. and daughter-in-law, Lynn of Meridian; her daughter-in-law, Olivia Walker Russell of Flowood; sister, Mary Pritchard Anderson of Lambert; and grandchildren,  Robert Pritchard Russell, Jr. and wife, Gina of Madison, Denise Russell Hunter and husband, Steven of Flowood, David Austin Russell and wife, Kristen of Madison, Jennifer Russell Gunn and husband, Clay of Madison and Daniel Pritchard Russell of Meridian.  She also leaves four great-grandsons:  Robert Pritchard Russell III (Trace), Preston Taylor Russell, Russell Clanton Gunn and Patrick Baker Gunn of Madison.   She was preceded in death by her husband, Austin Henderson Russell; her son, Robert Pritchard Russell, M.D.; her parents, David A. and Ida Mayfield Pritchard; her brother, Clarence David Pritchard, M.D., her brother, Tyrus Raymond Pritchard, M.D. and her sister, Avis Pritchard Smith.

                Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, 800 Van Buren Avenue, Oxford, Mississippi 38655 or to the University of Mississippi Foundation, P. O. Box 1848, University, Mississippi 38677.

                For additional information or to sign an online guestbook, visit our website www.wallerfuneralhome.com or call 662-234-7971.