Ruth Florence Reaves Puckett

Ruth Florence Reaves Puckett passed away peacefully but unexpectedly at her residence in Plano, TX on 9/14/2018, one month shy of age 95. She was born 10/13/1923 in Florence, Alabama. Although she resided in Texas for 75 years, she considered South Carolina her home state, where the better part of her childhood was spent. A resident of New Braunfels, TX for over 35 years, she lived the last 14 years in Plano.
The daughter of Wilson Andrew Reaves, Sr. and Frances Katherine Greer, she is survived by her daughter, Janecarol “JC” Puckett of Dallas, her sister Katherine Moore of South Carolina, her brother Wilson Andrew Reaves, Jr. of Plano, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her son Mark Reaves Puckett, her brother James Murray Reaves, Sr. of Corpus Christi, her nephew Robert “Bob” Moore of South Carolina, and her niece Melissa Lee Reaves Nisbet of Corpus Christi. She also outlived most of her dearest friends.
Ruth was a public school teacher and later a librarian, licensed in Texas to teach any grade level and any subject for life. She is still fondly remembered by many of her students and has attended the early 1950s class reunions of Tuloso-Midway High School several times, where she taught Home Economics and sponsored the yearbook. Much of her teaching career was in elementary schools. After retiring from teaching, she worked in a Lenox china outlet store for several years.
She graduated from Texas A&I in Kingsville, TX (now part of the Texas A&M system, but she never considered herself an Aggie!) with a degree in Home Economics in 1951. She married Dewey Hendricks “Bill” Puckett, Jr. in 1948; they divorced in 1965.
She enjoyed music, dancing, and having dinner parties, and was an excellent cook and seamstress. She loved to dress nicely and had a pair of shoes that was perfect for each outfit. She would strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere, and could remember people’s names and life stories for generations. She would helpfully tell you how your brand new house could have been designed better. She had the greenest thumb ever. In later life she took up hobbies from stained glass to watercolors to public speaking. She would try her hand at almost anything, even cutting her own hair, but could not pick up the messages on her cell phone to save her life. She loved to laugh. She was an avid reader and lover of language, and was a lifelong learner. Teaching others and sharing her knowledge was her natural instinct. She valued honesty and justice. She always sought utopia and was not afraid to speak to the manager.
There will be a visitation at 1:30pm on Saturday 9/22/18 in Corpus Christi, TX at Seaside Memorial Park, followed by entombment with an informal memorial service at 2:30pm. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Americares (https://www.americares.org/ or (800) 486-HELP) to help with Hurricane Florence disaster relief, or to your public library.

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