The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE —
Ruby Ella McDonald Price was born in Picayune on March 9, 1928 to Claiborne and Helen Camp McDonald. She passed away quietly, following a long illness, on August 24, 2010. She graduated from Picayune High School with a strong academic record. She was a clarinet soloist in the band, lettered in cheerleading and was involved in a number of extracurricular activities. She went to Pearl River Junior College and received a BA degree in Education at Millsaps college in 1949. While at Millsaps she was active in the Millsaps Singers, the Society for Christian Service, sorority life and maintaining strong academic record. At Millsaps she met the love of her life, Bill Price. Ruby Ella and Bill were married December 20, 1949.
After marriage the Prices moved to Atlanta, Ga., where Mrs. Price began her teaching career and her husband attended seminary. In 1955, following a time of training at Cornell University, the Prices began their years of missionary service in Pakistan. Ruby Ella served primarily as a Christian Educator while on the mission field. Upon their return to the United States, the Prices moved to Arkansas City, Kan. and subsequently back to their home state of Mississippi. Here she continued to teach and completed her MA in Education in the early 1970’s at Mississippi State University for Women in Columbus, Miss. Mrs. Price continued to upgrade her teaching credentials on a regular basis.
While Ruby Ella Price taught elementary school and continued to love being with children her whole life long, she also was a wonderful teacher and workshop leader for adults. She led many church retreats and often taught classes for United Methodist Women. Mrs. Price was a beautiful helpmate to her husband Bill and she was a great mother.
Ruby Ella Price will be remembered for her amazing creativity, her wit, her generosity, her faithfulness in the midst of adversity and her ability to make her surrounding environment a place of hospitality and grace. She was a woman of deep and abiding faith, which was evident all of her life, but especially inspiring in these final years.
Mrs. Price loved to read, paint, sing, create beauty spots and be with people. In retirement, Ruby Ella and Bill enjoyed traveling, keeping up with family and friends, going to Mississippi State ball games, being active in the ministry of Poplar Springs Drive United Methodist Church, and watching “Dancing with the Stars.” She was an avid advocate for the poor and the rights of women and children around the world and around the corner.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be given to her home church, Poplar Springs Dr. UMC or any agency advocating for the rights of children.
She was preceded in death by: her parents, Claiborne and Helen McDonald of Picayune; her sister, Frances Grice; her brothers, Claiborne, Tom and David McDonald; and her husband, the Rev. Floyd William Price of Meridian, Miss.
Survivors include: sons, Donald Wells Price and his wife Kathy of Meridian, Michael Price and his wife Barbara Cooper of Berkeley, Calif.; and daughter, the Rev. Ellynda Price Lipsey and her husband Hal of Atlanta. Grandchildren include: Brian Price and his wife Darrie and Jason Price and his wife Lindsay of Columbus, Cooper Price (Berkeley) and Laura Lipsey Bray and her husband John (New York, N.Y.). Great-grandchildren are McCanna and Tripp Price of Columbus.
The funeral service will be held at Poplar Springs Dr., UMC on Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 11 a.m. Visitation will be held on Friday, August 27, 2010 from 5-7 p.m. at Webb Funeral Home in Meridian. The Rev. Larry Hilliard and the Rev. Rob N. Gill will officiate at the service.
