Ruth Hemp

September 16, 1915 - July 31, 2017

Ruth Hemp passed away on July 31st at the age of 101. She began attending college almost thirty years after graduating from Barboursville High School and received her Master's Degree from Marshall University achieving her lifelong goal. She was a retired teacher and a member of the Cabell County Retired Teachers Association. She was very active in churches as a member of the Bloomingdale and Highlawn Baptist and taught Sunday School for six decades. She loved poetry and read and wrote poetry throughout her life. She had an amazing memory and could recite many passages from the Bible, numerous poems, and enjoyed saying the alphabet backward to her second grade students and to her great-grandchildren. She cared for injured or abandoned animals from chickens with broken legs to kittens that she was nursing back to health. Ruth and her late husband Thomas Hemp who passed away in 1981 resided in Barboursville. She is survived by a daughter Judith Welsh; granddaughter Laura Chambers; and great-grandchildren Austin and Emma Chambers, as well as her niece Kay Midkiff and nephew Joe Self. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:00 PM on Monday, August 7, 2017 at Henson and Kitchen Mortuary, Huntington, W.Va. The family will receive friends an hour prior to services. A private family burial will follow. Online condolences and memories may be shared with the family by visiting www.hensonandkitchen.com.