Ruby Mai Farrar

Ruby Mai Farrar was born on May 11, 1925 to Myrtle and Carroll Blanton in Bedford County, Tennessee and died on November 21, 2023 in Nashville, living to 98 years of age. 

She was raised in the Rover community in Tennessee with her older siblings, Joe Edd, Franklin, and Mayme.

She was a 1943 graduate of Community High School in Unionville, Tennessee.

After high school, she attended Nashville Business College.  She worked at the Tennessee School for the Blind, and lived there with her aunt and uncle, Marye and Richard Blanton. There she met her future husband, William Parks Farrar, whose parents also worked and lived at the school.

She joined McKendree United Methodist Church in Nashville, just prior to her wedding there on March 17, 1945 to William Parks Farrar.  They were married for 51 years until Parks’ death in 1996.

They raised their three children, Mary Carol, Susan, and Bill in the Crieve Hall neighborhood of Nashville.  Ruby Mai lived in that house from 1955 until 2021 (66 years).

She retired as a secretary from the US Soil Conservation Service, Nashville office, in 1990.

In her retirement, she enjoyed many travels around the US with her dear friend, Marie Craighead, and other seniors from the Middle Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church.  She was very proud to have visited all of the United States, except for Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.

She was very active at McKendree, serving in the United Methodist Women, the Jubilate Senior Choir, and as a church office volunteer.

She also enjoyed her hobbies of knitting and being an avid reader.

However, her greatest joy was being with her family.  She loved and enjoyed her 6 grandchildren:  Gary Mitchell, Carolee Meredith, Justin and Brian Elliott, and Jake and Stacy Farrar; and her 9 great-grandchildren:  Farrah and Matthew Meredith, Connor and Owen Mitchell, Parks and Marin Ruby Elliott, Charles Kades, and Shapard and Collins Farrar. 

Her sweet smile will be greatly missed by her family and friends, including her son-in-law, Floyd Elliott, Jr.; her nieces, Ruby Tucker and Norma June Miller; and her nephew, Ricky Blanton.

Family members will receive friends in Friday, December 1, 2023 from 11:00 am until 12:00 noon at Lawrence Funeral Home.  Funeral services will follow at 12:00 noon from the chapel of Lawrence Funeral Home with Dr. David Chappell and Dr. Stephen Handy officiating.  Burial will follow in Simpson Cemetery, near her homeplace in the Rover Community of Bedford County.

Ricky Blanton, Gary Mitchell, Justin Elliott, Brian Elliott, Jake Farrar and Matthew Meredith will serve as pallbearers.

The family wishes to thank the caring staff of American House Senior Living of Brentwood, and Heart ‘n Soul Hospice staff. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to McKendree United Methodist Church, 523 Church Street, Nashville, TN  37219