Ruth Houston Baker

Ruth was born on the 19th of December 1924 in Memphis, TN to Philip Douglas Houston, Sr and Ruth Hunter Houston.

Ruth grew up in Memphis with two brothers. She attended Sweet Briar College then moved to Houston, Texas in the 1950s. She was a patron of Bayou Bend, a long-standing member of both The River Oaks Garden Club and The River Oaks Country Club. She was a member of St. Philip Presbyterian Church for years then attended St. Luke’s Methodist Church in her later years.

Ruth had an infectious personality and was always the one you wanted sitting at your table. She cultivated life-long friends and created endearing relationships. Her smile was contagious and her sense of humor was always in play. She was “that lady” who would give candy to little children in the grocery store and was so disarming that mothers would welcome her kids to take candy from a stranger.

Ruth loved to play bridge, and, if you were lucky, she would send you her winnings of $1 or even more. She loved her family and friends, enjoying frequent conversations, always starting them with “all is well here....”.

She is preceded in death by her mother and father, Philip and Ruth Houston; her brothers, Philip and Ted Houston, her stepson, Hines Holt Baker, III; and most recently, her husband of 46 years, Hines Holt Baker, Jr.

Ruth’s humor, wit and eternal optimism will be sorely missed, especially by her family—her son, Robert Houston Jarvis (Lauret), Crested Butte, CO; daughter, Ruth Jarvis, Houston, TX; stepsons, Stephen Baker, Houston, TX and Richard Baker, Atlanta, GA; grandson, Rob Houston Jarvis, Vicksburg, MS; granddaughters, Madison Taylor Cochran (Carter), Chattanooga, TN, Ashley Baker, Houston, TX and Bonnie Baker, Los Angeles, CA; and three great granddaughters and one great grandson.

Ruth was the “coolest chick ever”.

The funeral service is to be conducted at ten o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, the 18th of November, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the adjacent grand foyer.

The interment will follow, via an escorted cortège, at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston.