Susie Ruth Smith was born on July 29, 1922, in Mulberry, Lincoln County, Tennessee. Her father, John Edgar, was 31, and her mother, Sallie, was 33. She was raised in Mulberry, Tennessee, the 4th child and daughter of John and Sallie, with 3 older sisters – Gladys (1916), Hulda (1918) and Estelle (1920). She also had an older step-brother, Jared (1903) and an older half-brother, Charlie (1909).

The 1930 Census shows that the family is living on Mulberry Street, in district 5 of Lincoln County. John Paul Smith (1935), the youngest Smith sibling, left us a wonderful 18-page typed Memoir of his life growing up in Mulberry. This is likely the house that he mentions in his memoirs – a small five room home, “on the corner,” just off the center of town in Mulberry. He notes that they were 100 yards from the churches, schools, and dry goods stores of Mulberry. Another sister, Johnnie Jewel, would be born on New Year’s Eve, 1924, but sadly die just before Christmas and her first birthday following surgery for an intestinal blockage. Douglas, was born in 1927, Joe in 1930, Barbara, in 1932, and finally, John Paul in 1935.

The 1940 Census shows that the family is still in Lincoln County Civil District 5, and records that they are in the same house that they were living in in 1935, which would likely be the house described above. At this point, Ruth (17) is a junior in high school, Doug (12) is in 7th grade, Joe (10), 5th grade, Barbara (7) 2nd grade, John Paul is 5 and not yet in school.

Ruth graduated from Central High School in 1941, and followed the path of two of her older sisters, Hulda (1918) and Estelle (1920), enrolling in the Baroness Erlanger School of Nursing in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

As Ruth completed high school and moved to Chattanooga, her father, John Edgar, began to get sick. He was suffering with the effects of kidney disease, although it is unclear whether he or any of the family knew what was making him sick at the time (his death certificate reflects that he died of renal disease).

John Paul mentions in his Memoir that he wasn’t aware of his father’s problem with alcohol until later in life. He was also overweight and smoked, which easily put him at risk for secondary illnesses like diabetes and hypertension. These often lead to other issues, such as cirrhosis and renal failure. John Paul recorded that he had trouble breathing towards the end (also a symptom of both end stage renal failure and cirrhosis), and that he needed a small electric fan blowing on him so he could breathe.

With her father sick and not working, finances were derived only from what the working older employed children could contribute. Both Ruth and Charlie were in school in 1941 (Charlie was going to Law School in Chattanooga). Jared was in Detroit working as a grocer, Estelle had finished nursing school in 1941 and was in the Army stationed at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. Hulda was married to Henry Carbine and working as a nurse in Chattanooga, but left her work to come to Mulberry help her mother care for her father. Gladys was married to Frank Cummings and living in Chattanooga. The other 4 children (Doug, Joe, Barbara and John Paul) were all school age and still living at home in Mulberry.

John Edgar became completely bedridden in early 1943. The older children prioritized keeping Ruth in school, and seeing that the younger children finished their education. John Edgar died in November of 1943. Within 3 weeks of his death, the family was evicted from their home, and had to move to an abandoned home on a relative’s farm in Crystal Ridge, which had no electricity or running water. Hard times only got harder.

Ruth stayed in school, graduating in 1944, and remained on in Chattanooga.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

She married William Hunter Alvey on September 28, 1947. A veteran of WWII, he had enlisted in the Army on June 30, 1942, and was released from active duty on 30 October, 1945. They had two children during their marriage, Sue Evelyn and William Hunter, Jr.

Unfortunately, Ruth and her husband divorced, and she moved with her children back to Mulberry, where they lived with her mother Sallie.

• 

• 

She died on April 23, 1989, in Cleveland, Tennessee, at the age of 66, and was buried there.