Ruth Erlamond Birch

Ruth was born in 1935 in Portage, Pennsylvania, the daughter of the late Ronald E. Lauffer and Elizabeth B. Etzell. Ruth and her family moved to the Arlington area in 1949 where she was a graduate of Arlington’s Washington and Lee High School. After graduating, she started working at the Pentagon, riding the bus to and from, where she met the love of her life, Walter. They were married on May 15, 1954. Ruth devoted the early years of her marriage to her husband, children, and home. When her children were all in school, she started working at a local bank where she had various administrative positions until she retired.

Ruth is survived by daughters Terry McVey, Cindy Ernst, Bonny Pfluger (Kurt), Janet McCosh, and son, Walter Birch Jr. (Nelsie); seven grandchildren (Jared Neal, Christopher and Mark Pfluger, and Cody and Troy McCosh); and three great grandchildren (Jared, Owen, and William Neal), and two sisters, Nancy Anstice (Howard) and Sandra Lauffer, and a large extended family.

Service will be held on Saturday, July 29, 2023 at 11:00 a.m., at Little Falls Presbyterian Church, Little Falls Road, Arlington, Virginia, followed by a small reception before burial at National Memorial Park, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Little Falls Presbyterian Church or the Arlington Food Bank.