Ruth Love Higgins

Ruth Love Lee Hay Higgins, 87, died Thursday, July 31, 2014, at Hospice House in Lexington, North Carolina. A memorial services will be at 1:30 p.m., Saturday August 9, at First Presbyterian Church, 300 South Main Street, Lexington, with Dr. A. Lee Zehmer officiating. The family will receive family and friends in the church fellowship hall following the service. Born in Great Falls, South Carolina, the fifth child of Asa Bell and Lula Love Lee, Ruth exhibited the Lee family traits of loving interaction with people, unselfishness, kindness, optimism, zest for living, and unshakable faith in God. She attended Montreat and Presbyterian Colleges. She was a life-long Presbyterian and active in several churches through the years, including Second Presbyterian Church and Circular Congregational Church in Charleston, South Carolina; Carmel Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Throughout her life, Ruth developed and maintained a number of special friendships including college girlfriends who nicknamed her “Lovely” and continued to meet together annually for many years; a group of women who met as young newlyweds living in the Byrnes Downs neighborhood, formed the EOWNBC (“Every Other Wednesday Night Bridge Club”) and in later years gathered periodically for mother-daughter lunches; couples who attended Sunday School class together at Second Presbyterian, formed a dinner club, and traveled together; and the “Noon at Nan’s” ladies from Carmel Presbyterian who met every Wednesday for sharing, prayer and Bible study. Ruth was well-known among family and friends as a faithful letter-writer. She quickly adjusted to using a computer to send e-mail, which expanded her ability to communicate with those she loved. She was very proud of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and had the special gift of making each one feel as if he or she were her favorite. Mrs. Higgins was predeceased by her husband, John Calhoun Higgins, Jr.; her brothers, Asa Bell Lee, Jr. and Cecil Patrick Lee and her sister Mary Lee Paschal; her first husband, Frank Seabrook Hay, Jr.; and her step-son, David Rutherford Higgins. She is survived by her sister Wynona Lee Lancaster Kursch; three sons, Michael Scott Hay (Catherine), Alan Oakman Hay (Nancy), and Jonathan Lee Hay (Teresa); two daughters, Teresa Hay Wood (Howard) and Fran Hay Morton (Lane); two step-sons, John Calhoun Higgins III and William Drayton Higgins (Christie); grandchildren, Jennifer Hay Jenkins (Jeremiah), Kristen Hay Wilson, Morgan Scott Hay, Tessa Wood Dilley (Craig), Deanna Ruth Wood, Julia Hay Saylors (Gene), Cameron Hay Moskos (Daniel), Catherine Patton Hay, Mitchell Hawkes Hay, Tanner Ross Hay, Tyler Hay Morton, and Ryan Lane Morton; great-grandchildren, Jaden Gasque, Sullivan Wilson, Alyssa Cousino, Brady Thomes, Noah Dilley, Finley Saylors, Jameson Saylors, and Preston Saylors; and step-grandchildren, Tate Higgins, David Higgins, Gina Higgins, Kelley Higgins, Connor Higgins and Camryn Higgins. The family extends thanks to the staffs of the 8th Floor Palliative Care Unit and Specialty Select Hospital at Forsyth Hospital, and of Hospice of Davidson County, and the caregivers from Home Instead Senior Care for the gentle, loving care they gave to Mrs. Higgins. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Davidson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements