Melba Ruth Burch

Melba Ruth Beauchamp Burch passed away on Saturday, July 7, 2018, at the age of 91 in Abilene, TX.

Visitation will be Sunday, July 8, at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road in Abilene, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

Graveside services will be held in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Anson, TX on Monday, July 9, at 9:30 am.  Following the graveside service, a funeral service will be held at 11:00 am in the chapel of The Hamil Family Funeral Home in Abilene.  Tommy J. Culwell will officiate the service.

Ruth was born in Woodford, OK to John Robert and Bessie Dockery Meek on August 9, 1926.  She graduated from Springer High School in 1944 and then attended Commercial College in Oklahoma City.  While attending school in Oklahoma City, she met and married a country boy from Anson, John Beauchamp in November of  1945.  Upon completion of his military service, they moved to Anson where they lived and farmed for all of their married life.   They made a living on a black dirt farm, raising cotton, maize, wheat and their daughter Debra.  John always said Debra was born during the worst drought, but somehow he always made a living for his family.  While married to John and helping on the farm, Ruth also worked as the secretary to the Jones County District Clerk, Poochie McDonald.  Later she worked as a clerk for the Jones County Tax Assessor Collector’s office.  After John’s passing in 1986, Ruth was devoted to her 3 grandchildren and volunteered with the Baptist Mission Service Corp at the Huntsville Prison Unit, Big Country Baptist Assembly and served as Prayer Room chairman for University Baptist Church.  She also served as the hostess at the Hendrick League House where she baked cookies for residents and nurses and ministered to the needs of everyone who came through its doors.  In February of 1998 she married Pete Burch, a high school classmate from Springer, OK.  They moved to Ardmore, OK where she resided until his death in 2012.  She then returned to Abilene to be near her daughter and family.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband John Beauchamp and an infant son Robert Jerry in 1946, husband Pete Burch and her parents.  She was also preceded in death by her 6 siblings, Quincy, Estelle, Jerry, Eva, Lois and RJ. 

Ruth is survived by her daughter Debra Brown and her husband Andy of Abilene, 3 grandchildren Andrea Doll and husband Tim of Castle Rock, CO, Scott Brown of Fort Worth and Alyssa Campbell and husband Kyle of Colorado Springs, CO.  She is also survived by 3 precious great granddaughters, Josie and Lily Doll and Emerson Campbell and cousins, Bill and Cindy DeBusk and Travis Jones of Abilene.

Memorials may be made to View Baptist Church (250 Boynton, Abilene, TX 79606) or Hospice of the Big Country (4601 Hartford, Abilene, TX 79605).

The family of Ruth Burch wishes to extend our sincere thanks to Julie Boger and Kay Richards for their love and support of Ruth and to Judy Hancock and her staff at Choices Assisted Living and Hospice of the Big Country.