Ruth Walters Peeples, age 98, passed away peacefully at the Wellness Center, a rehab. facility in Uplands Village, Pleasant Hill, TN on February 24, 2025, following a fall in late January.

In 2009, Ruth's work in Tennessee was honored at the Palace Theater in Crossville where Louise Gorenflo and Dennis Gregg reflected: "Ruth is a grower. She has never stopped learning or getting involved. Ruth is someone you turn to to get things done. She has grown into a wise woman who persists in nurturing others and the community, encouraging people to be their best selves." Even after death, she is promoting scientific knowledge by donating her body to Vanderbilt's Anatomical Donation program.

Ruth was born in 1926, in Detroit, Michigan to the late Harriett and Charles Gildemeister and adopted by the late Mabel (Pendelton) and H.R. Walters, residing in Ohio. She attended Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, where she met her husband of 48 years, Reverand Robert (Bob) F. Peeples. In 1950, Ruth graduated with degrees in Music and Sociology.

Bob served in various churches in Pennsylvania before moving to Shelby, Ohio in 1968. There, Ruth was employed as a social worker for the YWCA and a counselor for girls at the Richland County Attention Center, in addition to her unpaid duties as pastor's wife.

In 1983, Bob became the minister of Pleasant Hill Community Church United Church of Christ (PHCC) where he served until his retirement in 1991 when they joined Uplands Village in Pleasant Hill.

Ruth and Bob Peeples were visionaries who worked to make a better world for all. When Ruth discovered no services for victims of domestic abuse in Cumberland County, she determinedly opened the first Women's Shelter and Safe House in Crossville (later named Avalon Center).

Ruth was a founder, charter member, and long-time board member (into her 90's) at the Cumberland Good Samaritans Center in Crossville, TN. She frequently served as Board chair and secretary of the organization. Mickey Eldridge, longtime Executive Director of Good Samaritans, called her the "engine" behind the development of new programs. She was instrumental in expanding Good Samaritans' services into the thriving primary support system for the underserved it is today.

She supported women's rights and was active in Church Women United. Ruth was a participant in the Young Mother's Club of Cumberland County, helping with early learning and literacy for children of young mothers in the County.

Instrumental in starting recycling, energy saving projects and efforts to clean up the Caney Fork and Obed watersheds, Ruth was an early member of SOCM (Save Our Cumberland Mountains, and later a Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment).

She worked on many green energy projects, including construction of a passive solar home, early adoption of solar panels for their house, and the start of what became the Green Team at PHCC and the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Committee, a permanent committee of the Upland's Board. Ruth brought community supported agriculture to Pleasant Hill and helped initiate the FORC Food Cooperative.

For over 40 years, she was a frequent visitor to people in Uplands Village: Wharton nursing home, Wellness Center, Memory Care, and Fletcher assisted-living facility. Ruth was a Docent at the Pioneer Hall Museum and a long-time member of the Pleasant Hill Historical Society.

Ruth and Bob's domestic and international travels inspired them to be broad-minded, earth-loving people. They visited all 50 states, all the Provinces of Canada, Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Central America, Great Britian, Scotland, Ireland, Europe, China, Japan and the Philippines. After Bob's death in 1998, Ruth visited Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Italy, and Cuba.

Ruth enjoyed gardening, reading (absorbing everything she could about the world until her dying day), swimming (generously sharing her pool), camping, birdwatching, sewing, and weaving. She was involved in the lives of her children and grandchildren, often visiting and traveling with them. When she was 98, she attended a family reunion in Arkansas to experience the solar eclipse.

An active member of the United Church of Christ throughout her adult life, Ruth lived and breathed her progressive Christian faith to her last day, often touting the phrase: God Bless the World, No Exceptions!

Ruth is survived by her children, Mark (Becky Brumberg) Peeples of Bexley, Ohio, Susan Peeples of Pleasant Hill, TN, (Sharon) Elise Peeples of Berkeley, CA, James (Ann) Peeples of Westerville, OH, and grandchildren, Jay Peeples (Columbus, OH), Chloe Peeples (Silver Spring, MD), and Audrey Peeples (Columbus, OH), and great grandchildren, Ezra Gilmore and Sophie Elise Whitener Peeples.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to your choice of the following:

Cumberland Good Samaritans (http://www.cumberlandgoodsamaritans.org),

Avalon Center (http://www.avaloncentertn.org)

Ruth Peeples' Memorial Fund for projects designed to reduce the carbon footprint of PHCC (including, but not limited to, installing solar panels). Go to https://www.pleasanthillucctn.org/give/ --then select Online Designated Gifts and specify Ruth Peeples in the memo line.

Memorial Service March 29, 2025, 2 pm at Pleasant Hill Community Church, 67 Church Dr., Pleasant Hill, TN 38578. Reception to follow in Adshead Hall, 40 Fletcher Dr., Pleasant Hill. ALL ARE WELCOME!