Ruth Ann Dodson Wilson Gentry's Obituary
Ruth Ann was born November 3, 1942, in Magnolia, Arkansas, to John William Dodson of Cincinnati, Arkansas, and Annie Ruth Askew Dodson of Waldo, Arkansas. When she was three, they moved to Clarksville, where her dad was the county extension agent for Johnson County. Another job transfer occurred when Ruth Ann was in fifth grade, and Monticello became her final childhood home.
Family was the most important thing to Ruth Ann. When she was young, she spent time with her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She spent summer vacations playing in the dirt, making mudpies, riding bicycles, riding horses, exploring her surroundings, looking at bugs, frogs, and birds, and building houses for those frogs. The cousins would get so dirty that they would have to hose themselves off in order to go inside. She loved taking a bath in the spring at her Dodson grandparents. Their house had woodstoves, they grew all of their own food or traded for it, and had lots of animals. Here, she played with more of her cousins, petting the animals, roaming the fields, picking fruit in the orchards, and exploring the smokehouse, root cellar, and barns.
During her school years, Ruth Ann was a Girl Scout and was in 4-H, where she was Drew County champion 4-H girl. She was in French club, played trombone in band, and was the band’s librarian. Speaking of librarians, someone else noticed this talent – her junior high school teacher mailed her a letter thanking her for putting books up and saying that she would make a good librarian. It must have made an impression.
She and her friends got into all kinds of mischief, including convincing her mom they were working on a class project of making a flag. The next day, her mom was at a bridge party and learned that someone had added a pirate flag to the flagpole at the county courthouse where her husband worked. She never said a word to the group of women, but she did to Ruth Ann. Ruth Ann loved her friends and stayed in touch with them, asking to see them in her final days and enjoying the visits.
While in high school, Ruth Ann met her first husband, Harry Keith Wilson. The two dated for several years and were married on April 7, 1961, while attending Arkansas A&M at Monticello. Keith’s twin, Kelvin, married one of Ruth Ann’s friends, Jo Ann, soon after, and they all moved to Fayetteville, where Ruth Ann and Keith continued their education. They moved to a tiny apartment in Springdale in the summer of 1962. With the birth of a daughter looming, they moved to a rented house on Lowell Road, and Ruth Manon Wilson was born in 1963. A year or so later, they found a small house to purchase on Gwen Street. Ruth Ann continued to go to school and graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics in Food and Nutrition. She was planning to teach Home Economics but discovered late into her degree that her library classes were her true passion.
She started her professional life when the Fayetteville High School librarian resigned in October of 1969. A college professor of Ruth Ann’s recommended her as a replacement, and she was hired through the rest of the semester. During that time, she was borrowing books at the Springdale Public Library, and the head librarian asked if she would like a part-time position shelving books once she finished her other job. Thus began a wonderful career of thirty-three years where she wore many hats: outreach services, children’s librarian, assistant director, and acting director six times between directors. Several of those times she compiled the budget, a job she hated. She didn’t want to be the director; she wanted to work with the patrons out in the shelves, not with the paperwork behind a closed door. The job she loved most and the job she was best at was being a reference librarian, helping people find the answers to their questions. She knew all of the obscure places to look. She was like a dog with a bone.
Ruth Ann was part of a very close-knit library family, the Library Bunch. These women helped each other through tough times and celebrated the good ones. They helped raise each other's children. Ruth Ann had the best time when some of these women would visit her, and she would just listen to them all talk together. It would give her such pleasure to be around them. They remain friends still.
Ruth Ann had an exemplary employment record; all of her bosses thought highly of her until one didn’t. She was threatened by Ruth Ann’s expertise and decided to fire her. With the encouragement of her family, friends, the city council, and patrons, she fought and won her job back - although it wasn’t exactly the one she left. She was assigned one that was not best suited to her talents, and she was not offered support. She did that for one year and then retired on her own terms.
Ruth Ann took a break, volunteering at the Shiloh Museum working with her daughter, cataloging the photograph collection. She decided that she needed to go back to the work that was her passion, so she applied at the Mullins Library at the University of Arkansas where she was hired as their serials librarian. There, she found a whole new library family. She retired after ten happy years. She would have worked until she dropped had it not been for Parkinson’s disease. It began to affect her cognitive skills, and she didn’t want to do a subpar job even though they wanted her to stay. At the end of her life, her happiest hallucinations included working at the library, shelving books, and bossing people around.
Four years into her library career, Ruth Ann and Keith welcomed a son, John Morgan Wilson, into their family. He quickly became the center of everyone’s attention with all of his energy and laughter. As he grew older, they needed a bigger house and moved to Ina Avenue. Ruth Ann continued to immerse herself in her family and her career. She and Keith eventually parted ways, and she put her energies into raising her son and keeping the bills paid. The first summer, when she needed extra money, she and a friend cataloged books for Ozarks Regional Library on their days off.
She spent time with friends traveling the back roads of Northwest Arkansas just to see where the road went, going to flea markets, and searching for lost relatives in miles and miles of microfilm. She joined a singles group at her church. They did lots of group activities, many of which she planned or helped to plan. This is where she met her second husband, George Alexander Gentry, Jr.
They enjoyed doing many of the same things, adding car shows and trying new burger places to that list. They married on May 15, 1998, in Bella Vista. George and Ruth Ann spent their vacations traveling out west and also made a trip to Williamsburg, a place Ruth Ann had always wanted to see. They continued volunteering at their church, visiting friends, and spending time with their families. They joined the Northwest Arkansas Volkswagen Association and helped host the Eureka Springs VW car show each year. Ruth Ann traveled with George yearly to his Triple Nickle reunion somewhere in the U.S., and the two of them once hosted it in Eureka Springs.
Ruth Ann and George lived on Ina for a while until they moved into a house on Amelia Lane, where a tiny kitten wandered into the garage one day and greeted George. This was Maxie. Like many cats, she was very independent, but she did spend time hanging out with Ruth Ann. She was such a joy to them both, and they were completely heartbroken when she died a year ago. Ruth Ann could still feel her presence, and she requested that their ashes be mixed together.
Ruth Ann decided that she wanted a house that would be big enough to have her mom come live with them and to have a shop so that George could work on his cars. They spent a lot of time looking at houses, finding that nothing quite suited. Then she saw a lot in a small subdivision just outside of Fayetteville city limits, where they built a house. She designed it herself with a small amount of input from others. Her mom didn’t live long enough to see it, but Ruth Ann and George have enjoyed living in it. She never could decide what kind of window coverings to get, so some windows got sheets thumbtacked up and some got nothing, and it’s still that way. She enjoyed working with various gardeners to plant native species along with some bulbs and plants from her mother’s, aunt’s, and great-grandmother’s gardens. She loved seeing the seasons evolve.
Ruth Ann belonged to AAUW for more than 30 years, where she ran many garage sales, to DAR - Marion Chapter, to UDC - Prairie Grove Mildred Lee Chapter 98 - president, vice president, and yearbook, worked to get John Paul Hammerschmidt elected, and she was the Northwest Arkansas Library Association president one year. She was very involved with her kids’ activities and was a leader in 4-H, Girl Scouts in both Brownies and Juniors, and Cub Scouts. She showed up to practices, events, and concerts, volunteering to help with anything she could, but mostly she worked tirelessly in the background to help her kids explore their interests and support their dreams.
Ruth Ann was a life-long learner. She took classes in things such as shorthand, computers, bridge, and American Sign Language, the last to communicate better with a patron. She worked to keep pace with emerging technology even when Parkinson’s made learning hard for her. She spent many hours exploring the internet, going down rabbit holes, sharing information or the funny things she would find with family and friends. She learned to use Alexa during the last few months when she could no longer see in order to request music, call her people, and ask questions on the internet.
Ruth Ann felt that it was her duty to keep up with what was going on in the world. She exercised her right to vote and voted for the person and the issue, not the party. She believed that women should have every right afforded a man. That government should spend wisely. Ruth Ann loved puzzles, playing games, gardening, horses, spoonerisms, house and garden planning, nature, hosting small gatherings, traveling, all things genealogy, history, science, craft fairs, flea markets, antiques, finding ways to repurpose and recycle stuff, people watching, reading - especially mysteries, and music. Music was a big source of comfort and also joy. She couldn’t carry a tune, but she would sing anyway. She loved everything from 50s rock and roll to country, old gospel to Irish hymns, foot tapping to serious. One of her favorite things to do was to talk about music with someone and share songs back and forth using the internet or TV. Oh, and we can’t forget two of the things that Ruth Ann loved most. One was General Hospital. You didn’t dare call or come for a visit between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., or if you did, you sat down and watched the show with her. She watched it for over 60 years, rarely missing an episode. The other was cookies. It didn’t really matter what kind. Every once in a while, pies, cakes, or ice cream hit the spot, but cookies were her number-one go-to.
One of the essential things to Ruth Ann was her faith. She was brought up in the Presbyterian Church and became a First United Methodist Church member in Springdale when she moved to Northwest Arkansas. She was a member there for over 55 years, serving in many capacities. At different times, she ran the library, worked with community outreach to organize blood drives, was on the Altar Arts and Education committees, helped organize many activities for the Singles Ministry, and led Sunday school for children and adults. One special project she helped with was furnishing the first kindergarten classroom at the church, scavenging things such as books, supplies, chairs, magazines, chalkboards, and bookshelves. Once she became unable to leave her house, she began worshiping by attending church at the Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa via television. George and Ruth Ann decided to change their membership to the Farmington United Methodist Church six years ago. Ruth Ann could attend there through their YouTube service. She loved having her caregivers attend with her, especially those who would sing with her. She enjoyed visits with Pastor Annie and Pastor Dee, who visited often and gave her comfort. Nature was the reason for Ruth Ann’s belief in God. She was a Christian because you're accepted by grace.
Parkinson’s robs its hosts of little bits and pieces each year, month, day, minute. She rarely complained, even when she lost her sight the last three months, which was so very precious to her. One of the remarkable things that she could do was keep track of where most things were in the house. Even though she was basically bedbound for three years, she knew where every pot, pan, dish, can, and battery was. She knew if she was out of chips or if George needed more bread. She always had her ear out for George when he wasn’t in the room. She knew when he was in the bedroom taking a nap, what he was doing down in his garage, or about how long he would be gone to the store. She always said, “Hello!” when he walked through the garage door, even when we didn’t think she was aware.
George was Ruth Ann’s best friend. They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this year. He has spent so many years caring for her, and she loved and appreciated him for his devotion. They had something special.
Ruth Ann loved her family most of all, telling everyone all about them, what they did, what interests they had, showing pictures of them, and how very proud she was of them. She was especially proud of her grandchildren, reveling in their adventures and accomplishments. She relished her family’s visits and looked forward to the next. She loved playing family games and eating big meals together. She loved them all fiercely and worried about them incessantly. She was ornery and kept a sense of fun and humor. She was a helper and an optimist. She learned later in life to let go and not care as much about the mess but to invite people over anyway. She minded everyone’s business and genuinely wanted good things for you.
Ruth Ann died September 5, 2023 and is survived by her husband, George, of the home; daughter, Manon, of Fayetteville; son, John, and his wife, Erin Wilson; grandchildren, Melissa and Emmaryn Wilson, all of West Fork; step-daughter Kerry Leigh Hayes of Fayetteville; step-grandchildren Nathan Lee and Clifford James “C. J.” Hayes of Rogers; and many other family members and friends.
Her memorial service will be held at the Farmington United Methodist Church in Farmington, Arkansas, at 2 p.m. on Monday, September 25th. For those unable to attend in person, the service will be streamed live on the FUMC YouTube site at https://www.youtube.com/@farmingtonumc693/streams. Ruth Ann’s family would like to thank Good Shepherd Home Health and Circle of Life Hospice. Many of those people made a big impact on her daily life and, in many cases, became more than paid professionals. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Farmington United Methodist Church or your local library.
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