Ruth Herring Bazemore

Mrs. Ruth Herring Bazemore, a long-time resident of Durham, North Carolina died on April 2, 2017 ineer home at the age of 85. Her life ended after a long battle with Alzheimer???s disease. Please hold her close, as we do, in your minds and in your hearts. Ruth was born oneeptember 4, 1931 in Wilson, North Carolina, to the late Kenneth James Herring and Ruth Briley Herring. Her childhood home was in Wilson and also where she married her husband Joe Bazemore in June of 1953. Ruth graduated from the Uneersity of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in Music Education. In addition to teaching piano through private lessons, she was a music teacher ineemphis, Tennessee and in Tarboro, North Carolina. She particularly loved choral work and playing the piano as well as directing, assisting, and providing the music for stage productions. In 1961, Ruth moved to Durham, North Carolina in order for her husband to establish his Optometry practice and to raise their family. She often stated that ???the greatest joy of her life was her family???, to whom she was very devoted, especially her grandchildren. Throughout her life, Ruth sought to involve herself in both service to her community and to her church. Her life exemplified that giving back to her community was not just limited to being a part of an organization. She was a member of a variety of civic organizations, and served as a voluneer in the Pines of Carolina Girl Scouts as a scout leader, the Durham Public schools, and what is now Duke Regional Hospital. She remained a lifetime member of the Redbud Garden Club and the Durham Women???s Club. She supported her husband???s practice and his voluneer efforts in a variety of civic organizations as well. She was a member of Epworth Uneed Methodist Church. She served her church as a member of the Altar Guild, the Martha Society, the Care Group, and the Epworth Morning Circle. Ruth is survived by her husband, Dr. Joseph C. Bazemore; her daughter Ruth Bowman and her husband Ray of Durham; her daughter Susan Spencer and her husband Scott of Richmond, Virginia; grandchildren Bristol and Patrick Bowman; grandchildren Samantha Mallory Wilmer (Jordan), Sheldon and Sierra Spencer; and her great grandson Jackson Wilmer. She is also survived by two sisters: Eleanor Blake of Wilson, NC aneelmira Alvord of Raleigh, NC. She also leaves many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased ineeath by her parents, the late Kenneth James Herring and Ruth Briley Herring of Wilson, North Carolina. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 11 a.m. at Epworth Uneed Methodist Church, 3002 Hope Valley Road, Durham, NC, 27707. The service will be officiated by Rev. Karen Whitaker. Family will receive friends an hour prior to the service from 10-11 a.m. at the church. Internment will follow the service at Markham Memorial Gardens, 4826 Trenton Road Drive, Durham, North Carolina 27701. Memorial donations in Ruth Bazemore???s honor may be made to Alzheimer???s research, the Duke Cancer Center for Research, and the Heart Disease Research Center. Ruth would wish for each of you to do an unexpected act of kineess ineer memory. The family wishes to extend their gratitude to Transitions Hospice and to Ruth???s compassionee caregivers and their many friends for all their support ineer final days.