Ruth B. Tibbetts

Ruth Naomi Beer was born in 1921 in Roanoke, Ill. A small farming town near Peoria, Ill. Her parents were William Beer and Molly Gehrig Beer, and her siblings were brother C.A., sisters Mary, Josephine, and Fannie, and brothers Bob, Lee, William and Jake. Growing up on a farm, she had an adventurous spirit, and was quite the tomboy. As the youngest of nine, she learned to drive a tractor when she was 12, and went fishing and hunting rabbits with her father and brothers. She was quite a good shot with her rifle, as good as any of the boys. When she heard her father was going to travel in one of those newfangled airplanes, she had to go with him. She was educated in a one room school house, taught by two of her sisters, Mary and Fannie. Her mother thought that being an educator was one of the highest professions in life and wanted all of her nine children to be teachers; four were. Ruth later confessed she never wanted to be a teacher, or get married, but God had other ideas. She would eventually admit that He had the best plan, and ended up with a very rewarding teaching career for 35+ years, and was married for 54 years. But before all that, her adventurous spirit led her all across the United States. After high school, the farm girl from Roanoke traveled south to work in the summer camps such as Camp Gilead in Lakeland, and Rocky Bottom in South Carolina. She also traveled west on a cross-country trip with a couple that took her to Washington State and up-and-down the West Coast, one of the highlights of her life. When it was time to get serious about a career, she headed to Goshen College in Indiana, where one of her brothers had previously attended. She next studied at Wheaton College, where she roomed with Ruth Bell, who later became Mrs. Billy Graham. After taking classes at Illinois State University, she eventually ended up at Bob Jones University, where she met her future husband Joe (Teddy) Tibbetts, who had, ironically, taken classes with future evangelist Billy Graham. Ruth and Joe both graduated from Bob Jones, Ruth at age 31 with a teaching degree. Her first teaching job in St. Petersburg was at Florida Christian School. In her 35 year teaching career, she taught 5th grade for Pinellas County Schools at George M. Lynch, Pinellas Park, Bay Point, Child

Ruth B. Tibbetts

July 11, 2010