Ruth Delight Roderick
Ruth Delight Roderick lived up to her middle name.
“She was all about everyone else; she always put someone in front of her,” her daughter Betty Bohon said.
Ruth Delight Roderick of Kirksville died Thursday, Dec. 21, 2010, at Twin Pines Adult Care Center. She was 91.
She was born Nov. 1, 1919, on a farm in Holiday to Paul and Bertha (Gordon) Stith. She attended Madison High School and graduated as valedictorian in 1938.
She married Dr. John R. Roderick on Aug. 31, 1940. They spent the first few years of their marriage at Scott Air Force Base in St. Louis, where Dr. Roderick served during WWII.
Mrs. Roderick received a degree in business from Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in 1947. She was a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and was selected as a student in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. After finishing her degree, she was a homemaker.
“She was a great seamstress and loved sewing, cooking and gardening,” Bohon said.
In 1966, she opened The Royale Shoppe, a retail store that specialized in fine gifts, in Kirksville. She ran it for 20 years before closing it in 1986.
She always got people what they wanted for the holidays, her daughter said.
“Every Thanksgiving, she would follow you around with a list to write down and make sure she got you exactly what you wanted for Christmas,” Bohon said.
Mrs. Roderick was active in the First Christian Church, where she was a Sunday school teacher and attended Christian Women’s Fellowship.
“I remember being in her preschool Sunday school class and I didn’t want to go on even at 5 and 6 years old because I loved being with her,” Bohon said.
Bohon said her mother was a sweet, gentle and selfless.
“She was the perfect person. I couldn’t ask for a better parent,” Bohon said. “She is someone any wife, mother and grandmother should aspire to be.”
Mrs. Roderick is survived by her husband; daughter Betty Bohon and husband, Rick; daughter Jeannie Lucas and husband, John; five grandchildren, Miki, Tiffany and Nate Bohon, Johnny Lucas and wife, Beau, and Brian Lucas all of Columbia; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Mrs. Roderick’s parents; her sisters, Helen, Pauline and Lillian; brothers Ernest and Paul; and daughter Marjorie Roderick Bard all died earlier.
Services were held at 2:00 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2010, at Davis-Playle-Hudson-Rimer Funeral Home in Kirksville. Burial was in Highland Park Cemetery in Kirksville.
Memorial contributions for the First Christian Church Disciples of Christ may be left at Davis-Playle-Hudson-Rimer Funeral Home, 2100 E. Shepherd Ave., Kirksville, MO 63501.
