Ruth Anabel Ebner Griffith Broussard, 102, of Beaumont, died Thursday, September 27, 2012, at Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth, Beaumont. She was born on September 9, 1910 in Nome, Texas, to Mildred Cruger Ebner and Matthias Carl Ebner. Ruth grew up on the family farm in Hamshire, riding her pony to the local school.  She moved into Beaumont to stay with an aunt as a teenager and graduated from South Park High School in 1927.

Ruth had one younger brother, John. The family enjoyed annual vacations in Galveston with their cousin Brown Booth, fishing, crabbing, and eating at Murdock’s. Ruth passed this love of the coast on to her children and grandchildren, with whom she spent many happy days at their vacation homes in Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, and Rockport, Texas, and Blue Point Beach, Fire Island, New York.

An avid 4-H Club member, Ruth spent time at Texas A&M each summer, living in the dormitory with other girls and taking agricultural classes. She was the female representative from Texas at the National Farm Boys and Girls 4-H Club Camp in Washington, DC, in June of 1927, camping on the White House lawn where President Calvin Coolidge joined them for breakfast.

Ruth eloped with Earl Ray Griffith in 1927. Earl was a celebrated trumpet player in a big band and an engineer with Gulf States Utilities Company in Beaumont. They had three beautiful children, Carl, Earl, and Carole, and were married for thirty-two years.  Ruth was a homemaker in the days of few modern conveniences, cooking, sewing and washing clothes by hand, and hanging them to dry in the sun. She kept chickens for eggs and meat and even a cow, Evalina, provided milk for the family. Always, there was a vegetable garden. During the war we called them Victory Gardens.  

When Ruth was widowed at the age of 48, in 1959, she went to New Orleans to study at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, playing the piano on Sundays at a small church in the French Quarter. She then began a career in interior design, studying at the New York School of Interior Design and establishing Ruth Griffith Interiors in Beaumont. As a local business woman she belonged to many organizations such as the Woman’s Club, American Business Womans Association, and Garden Clubs, etc. A talented and creative designer, she ran a successful business for more than thirty years, serving as a great role model for her granddaughters.

Fifteen years after the death of her husband, Earl, Ruth reunited with her childhood sweetheart from Hamshire, Ray Marion Broussard, at their 50th high school reunion. Ray was also widowed, and they married soon after, spending twenty-five happy years together.

A devout Christian, Ruth was a lifelong Baptist beginning with Hamshire Baptist Church, then to South Park Baptist and finally to Calder Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday school well into her 90’s. Ruth was active in the Womans Missionary Union (Wollerman Circle) and the Deborah Sunday School Class. She represented the church at the Southern Baptist Convention at one point. She lived her Christianity every day with kindness and generosity to those less fortunate than she. Ruth volunteered at Some Other Place, teaching underprivileged women to sew well enough to support themselves as seamstresses and tailors. As recently as the early part of this decade, she was helping to make salads in their soup kitchen.

Gardening was Ruth’s lifelong passion, and she once attributed her longevity to her homegrown mustard greens. She had a large garden both spring and fall until the last year of her life, growing and preserving fresh vegetables and pears. The blooms and seasonal changes in her beautiful yard gave her endless pleasure and purpose.

Along with gardening and interior design, Ruth loved fashion. Her family spent many days over the years taking her shopping in New York, Houston, and San Antonio, where she enthusiastically selected beautiful clothes with a practiced eye.

Highly intelligent and fiercely independent, Ruth remained actively engaged throughout her life, keeping up with current events and discussing politics and economics past her 102nd birthday.  Although she had suffered temporary physical setbacks from several falls over the last two years, Ruth’s intellect and great historical perspective on the state of the country remained keen.

She is survived by her daughter, Carole Ruth Griffith Chambers; daughter-in-law, Pat Stagg Griffith; grandchildren, Judge Carl Griffith, Jr.; Millie Griffith; Tammy Steinman and her husband, Paul Steinman; Gregory Griffith; Lauren Griffith Kent and her husband, Thomas Kent, M.D.; Jennifer Griffith and her husband, John Campbell, Jr.; Margo Chambers and John Chambers; Tamara Kelso and her husband, Dr. Kent Kelso; and Pate Jones and his wife, Mandy; and great-grandchildren, Devon Rutherford, Claire and Tucker Garcia, Devin Campbell, Lurie, Turner, and Orin Williamson, John and Ben Steinman, Tamara Kelso and her husband, Dr. Kent Kelso; and Pate Jones and his wife Mandy; and great-great-grandchildren, Paten Jones, and Kaeden and Kellan Kelso.

Ruth is preceded in death by her husbands, Earl Ray Griffith and Ray Marion Broussard; sons, Carl Ray Griffith and Earl Lloyd Griffith; daughter-in-law, Gloria Jean “Dodie” Griffith; son-in-law, John Wheeler Chambers; and grandson, Jonathan Cruger Griffith.

A gathering of Mrs. Broussard’s family and friends will be from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., Monday, October 1, 2012, at Broussard’s, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont. Her funeral service will be 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 2, 2012, at Calder Baptist Church, 1005 North 11th Street, Beaumont, with interment to follow at Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Calder Baptist Church, 1005 North 11th Street, Beaumont, Texas 77702, or Some Other Place, P.O. Box 843, Beaumont, Texas 77704.