Ruth Seamands

December 15, 1916 - April 17, 2014

Ruth Seamands

Wilmore : Ruth Seamands, 97, died April 17 at Wesley Village in Wilmore. The daughter of the late Henry and Pearl Childers of Herrin, Illinois, Ruth was a small-town girl with no thought of international travel, much less living the life of a missionary wife and mother. In 1936 she met J. T. Seamands, who had been raised in India by his missionary parents. It was love at first sight for both of them. They were called of God separately and answered the call together. After her graduation from Asbury College and his from Asbury Theological Seminary, they began their missionary career in south India in 1940. When World War II broke out, Ruth was forced to leave India with their six-month-old baby, leaving J.T. behind to continue the work. After the war, they resumed their missionary career in 1946 in Karnataka State, mostly in the city of Belgaum, where J.T. served as pastor, district superintendent, and village evangelist under the Methodist Church. Ruth ran the mission compound, acting as hostess to a long line of missionaries, agriculturalists, assorted Indian government and military officials, and a host of Indian friends, including the Rajah and Rani of Sawantwadi. Her duties included running the boys' hostel (dormitory), giving village boys the chance to get an education in the educational center of Belgaum, helping with the jungle camp meetings, and driving her old Army jeep to help people all over the city and countryside - a rarity in Belgaum, where white people, let alone white women drivers, were a strange sight. Ruth's courage, initiative, and sense of humor served her well through nearly 20 years of missionary service, where beside her beloved J.T. she took on cobras, the Indian monsoons, and the devil. Upon their return to Wilmore in 1959, and J.T.'s subsequent post as Professor of Missions at Asbury Theological Seminary, Ruth once again used her gift of hospitality to entertain many Christian friends and acquaintances, from E. Stanley Jones to Frank Laubach, to J. Oswald Chambers, to presidents and professors at the seminary, as well as a host of visiting international friends. She taught herself to use the IBM composer (a precursor to the computer) and spent years typesetting for the (then) Asbury College and Asbury Seminary. She lovingly edited and typed her husband's several books on missions and the Christian life. At 70 she learned to use a computer, at 84 she went parasailing, had her teeth straightened at 88, and she celebrated her 90th birthday on the back of a motorcycle. Ruth and J.T. were married for 66 years before he died in 2004. She is survived by her four daughters: Sylvia Seamands (Nicholasville), Sheila Lovell (Wilmore), Sandy Sheppard (Vassar, MI) and Brandilyn Collins (Mark), Coeur d'Alene, ID, 9 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, and her brother, Arthur Childers, San Dimas, CA, as well as several nieces and nephews. Ruth's adventures are documented in her best-known book, Missionary Mama, and its sequel, The House by the Bo Tree. In addition she wrote short stories for children based in India, romance books, and a work of historical fiction entitled Cast a Long Shadow, the story of three women - her grandmother, her mother, and herself. The residents of heaven will have much to look forward to as she regales them with stories of her life in India - she was a wonderful storyteller. Visitation will be from 9-11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22, in Clark Chapel at the Wilmore United Methodist Church, with the funeral to follow at 11 a.m. Hager and Cundiff Funeral Home of Nicholasville is honored to serve her family. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Foundation for United Methodists at Asbury Theological Seminary or to the Wilmore United Methodist Church.

Funeral Information

Funeral Service: 11:00 AM Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Wilmore United Methodist Church, Clark Chapel

Visitation: 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Wilmore United Methodist Church Clark Chapel

Burial: Wilmore Cemetery

Donations Information

Foundation for United Methodists at Asbury Theological Seminary
204 North Lexington Ave.
Wilmore, KY 40390

Wilmore United Methodist Church
209 East Main St., PO Box 68
Wilmore, KY 40390

Donations Links:

Asbury Theological Seminary
Wilmore United Methodist Church

Directions

Visitation: http://www.mapquest.com/us/kentucky/business-wilmore/wilmore-uni