From SPARTANBURG [SC] HERALD-JOURNAL online, Wednesday, 6 November 2002

Mrs. Ruby Lee Stevens

Union, SC ---- Mrs. Ruby Lee Stevens, 92, of Union, died Sunday,
November 3, 2002, at the home of her daughter and son-in-law in
Spartanburg.

Born September 1, 1910 in Brownsville, Paulding County, Georgia, she was
the daughter of the late Coleman H. and Lucy Connally Hendrick of Georgia
and the widow of the late Walter Stevens of Union. She was the last
surviving member of her immediate family.

Mrs. Stevens is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Joseph
L. (Cris) Crissinger, a number of nieces and nephews, and by her very
special friends, Jean and Gene Busch, Monte Lancaster and Peggy Waller
and her grand-cat Molly Matilda.

Mrs. Stevens attended Atlanta schools and Spartanburg High School. She
was the 4th place winner in the Miss Spartanburg contest, held at Rainbow
Lake in August, 1935. She worked at Kress Dime Store in Spartanburg until
her marriage in 1936. She was a former member and two-term past Worthy
Matron of Martha Chapter Order of the Eastern Star. She was a member of
Grace United Methodist Church.

Mrs. Stevens worked for over 30 years with her husband at their Stevens
Furniture Store in Union and later assisted him when he worked with and
later managed the Floyd Mortuary branch in Union and when he was the
manager of the Union Memorial Gardens. Beginning in 1974, she was a guide
and later the Head Tour Guide at Walnut Grove Plantation in Spartanburg
County until her retirement in 1994. For her work at Walnut Grove, she
was awarded the 1994 Hospitality Employee of the Year Award by the
Discover Upcountry Carolina Association.

Visitation was held Monday, November 4, 2002, from 7:00 and 9:00 pm at
the S.R. Holcombe Funeral Home.

Funeral services will be conducted by the Rev. Dr. Wayne A. Stevens at
11:00 A.M. Tuesday, November 5, 2002, in the funeral home chapel. Burial
will follow in Union Memorial Gardens.

Memorials may be made to the charity of one's choice.

The S. R. Holcombe Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.

Dear GREGORY Cousins,
It has just dawned on me that I have not notified you all of my mother's
death last November. Mother, aka Mrs. Ruby Lee Stevens, had battled
ovarian cancer for over a year, defied all odds for treating someone her
age for that terrible disease, astonished the doctors who never thought
she would live even several months after her diagnosis in September 2001,
and lived a good, happy last year here at our home.

Mother, aka Ruby Lee Hendrick Stevens, always enjoyed the GREGORY
Reunions so very much --- she loved seeing you all and being with you on
those special occasions. Because of her illness and worsening condition,
I did not attend the 2002 Reunion in Union, SC. It turned out that she
took a major turn for the worse that very weekend, so I am thankful I had
stayed home with her. She died just a few weeks later, on Sunday,
3 November 2002. She had lived to see and enjoy her 92nd birthday on 1
September 2002.

I am sorry I have not told you all about Mother's death before now --- I
kept thinking I'd write you personal notes, but I have been submerged in
so many things, including grief, that I just haven't gotten around to it.

My husband Cris and I and our cat Molly Matilda all miss Mrs. Ruby Lee so
very much.

Thank you all for being such special cousins for Mrs. Ruby Lee. She
loved you all. She treasured her certificates for being among the oldest
Gregory kin at the Gregory Reunions in Union; she was so proud of that
recognition.

Sadly,
Linda
-- and Cris and Molly Matilda