RUTH HOCKERSMITH, age 90, formerly of East Prairie, died Wednesday, December 16, 2020, at her home in St. Louis.

Born June 15, 1930, in East Prairie, to the late A.K. Hockersmith and Etta Dora Parker Hockersmith, she was a 1948 graduate of East Prairie High School and lived there a number of years before moving to St. Louis.   She was a homemaker while raising her three children and then worked in sales.  A scholar of the Bible, she loved to write religious materials and book studies.  Christ was central in her life.

Surviving are her daughters, Darlene Staples Felts of Sikeston and Jeannie (Imogene) Staples of St. Louis; as well as a number of nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her son, Lester H. Staples and her brothers and sisters, Naomi Sneed, Modell Downs, Odean Paterson, L.C. Hockersmith and Nathaniel Hockersmith.

Funeral Services will be conducted at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, December 19, 2020, at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.  Mike Johnson of East Prairie, will officiate.

The family will receive friends briefly before the funeral hour. It is requested that all in attendance wear a mask or facial covering and observe social distancing practices.

Interment will follow in the Smith-Griggs Cemetery near Wyatt under the direction of the McMikle Funeral Home of Charleston.

Online condolences may be shared at www.mcmiklefuneralhome.com