Ruth E. Davidson

Florence Ruth Edgington Davidson, age 99, a recent resident of The Forum at Knightsbridge, passed away on September 21, 2017. She was born March 1, 1918, in Reynoldsburg, OH to Coral Alkire and Bruce Helmick Edgington, joining an older sister, Martha Jane Edgington.

Ruth attended Western College in Miami, OH and graduated from The Ohio State University in 1940. At OSU she joined Delta Gamma Sorority, graduated with a degree in commercial education, and met her future husband. Ruth taught commercial education at ­­­­Hebron High School from 1940 to 1942.

Ruth Edgington and Richard Shoots Davidson were married in a simple war-time ceremony at her home in Bexley, OH on June 30, 1942. A box of chocolates left in their car by her dad carried the simple message, "Bon voyage through life. Dad"

Throughout her life Ruth was devoted to family and friends...and her Ohio State Buckeyes, a love that began with listening to OSU football games on the radio and attending her first OSU football game with her father at age 9. Ruth was warmly drawn into Dick's Marion, OH farm family including his parents Hazel Enid (Shoots) and Foster Althouse Davidson, his brother Willard, and sisters Charlotte and Margaret and their families.

Ruth and Dick made their first home during World War II in St Paul, MN. Ruth worked at Montgomery Ward while providing love and support for Dick's research at the University of Minnesota on mass production of penicillin needed for US troops overseas. Together Ruth and Dick went on to create loving homes in Rhode Island, Alabama, and Ohio.

Ruth and Dick welcomed three children into their lives: Richard Shoots II in 1946, Jo Lynn in 1948, and Ann Scott in 1951. A love for family travels, camping, and the mountains and wilderness areas of Wyoming and Montana grew through annual summer travels in the West. Ruth and Dick celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1992 in a beloved area of Montana, surrounded by their children and grandchildren. Ruth's devotion to her family lives on in the ever widening family circle, as each of her children has met and married their life-long spouse and raised their own families. She took great delight in spreading her love among all three children, their spouses, and her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Richard Shoots Davidson, parents, Coral Alkire and Bruce Helmick Edgington, her sister Martha Jane Edgington, her parents-in-law and brothers-and-sisters-in-law. She is remembered with deep and abiding love by her children and their spouses, Richard Shoots Davidson II and Barbara Lynn (Chabek) Davidson of Columbus; Jo Lynn (Davidson) and Bruce Lawrence Andrews of Sheridan, WY; and Ann Scott (Davidson) and David Sievers Moyer of Madison, WI; and by her grandchildren and their spouses, Jenny Lynn Davidson, Benjamin Shoots and Margaret Lee (Lander) Davidson, Margaret Jean (Davidson) and Eric Christopher Hahn, Amy Lynn Andrews, Douglas Bruce and Gabriela Annina (Ryffel) Andrews; Andrew David and Sharon Beth (Fish) Moyer, Elizabeth Ann Moyer, and Katherine Ruth Moyer; and great grandchildren Rita Edgington Davidson, Enid Lee Davidson, Samuel Davidson Andrews, and Jack August Moyer.

In Ruth's memory, contributions may be made to a charity of your choice. At Ruth's request a family graveside service will be held at a future date. Arrangements are entrusted to SCHOEDINGER NORTHWEST CHAPEL. To share a special memory of Ruth, please visit our online guestbook at www.schoedinger.com