Johnnie Ruth Bellamy

Johnnie Ruth Bellamy, 62, peacefully passed to the next life March 30 at Alive Hospice in Nashville after a long struggle with cancer.

Williams Funeral Home in Columbia with host visitation for Johnnie Ruth on Saturday, April 3 from 12 noon until 3 p.m. At three, a memorial service will be held, led by Rick Points and Rev. Elmer Crosby. After the service, the family will go to Polk Memorial Gardens for the inurnment.

She was a Maury County native, born April 3, 1947. Her proud parents, who preceded her in death, were Alice Hoge and Shelton M. King, Jr.

Johnnie Ruth graduated as Valedictorian of the class of 1965 at Hay Long High School in Mt. Pleasant, where she was also a cheerleader, a majorette, and played clarinet in the band. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia.

Mrs. Bellamy graduated from King College in Bristol in 1969. While at King, she met Frank Bellamy whom she married during Spring Break of her senior year. The wedding was held in the King's ancestral home, and Johnnie Ruth was the fifth generation bride married thee. March 22nd marked the forty-first anniversary for the Bellamys.

Frank had graduated from King in 1968, and was teaching school in southwest Virginia when they married. After her graduation, Johnnie Ruth began working for the Tennessee Department of Public Welfare now Human Services in Sullivan County. They moved to Maury County in 1970 to be closer to her grandmother and parents and for Frank to assume a teaching position at Columbia Military Academy.

Johnnie Ruth continued working for DHS for 32 years. During her early years she worked in eligibility, then child protective services and foster care. She later spent a few years as Area Manager for Maury and Giles Counties. She concluded her career as a Supervisor for Adult Protective Services for fourteen southern middle Tennessee counties.

She was active in several community agencies, serving on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Hope House, and for the Community Christmas Program. She was one of the founders of the Santa For All Seasons program, designed to help foster children with needed items all year around. She and Frank were members of the group which started the drive to build the first animal shelter.

Johnnie Ruth and Frank have been in the antique business since 1982, with a booth rented in at least one mall since then, often in Alabama and Florida as well as locally. She collected several things, but jewelry, cats and snowmen were her favorites. She enjoyed traveling and looking for special finds, as well as searching on eBay. Johnnie Ruth also loved to read mysteries, work in her flowers, listen to Celtic and Big Band music, spend time with her cats and go fishing.

In addition to her husband, Johnnie Ruth is survived by her brother Robert H. King and his wife Lori and their children Catie and Colin, all of Mt. Pleasant. Other surviving sisters-in-law are Frank's sisters, Mary Ellen Fred Baker of Hattiesburg, MS, and Jane Bill Jarboe of Hereford, AZ. Surviving nephews are Peter and Matthew Stephanie Jarboe of Arizona, and Stephen Vickie Baker of Tupelo, MS. Her other surviving niece is Tammy Brandon Baker Philbeck. The Philbecks are missionaries in Nepal.

Memorials may be made to Pet Pals of Maury County, P.O. Box 1623, Columbia, TN 38402, the Santa Fe School Trap team or library, or First Presbyterian Church in Columbia. The family is very appreciative of all the prayers, cards, email support and kind thoughts from her childhood friends, her co-workers and her many friends in the Santa Fe community, especially the great folks from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Goshen United Methodist Church, and Santa Fe School.