Ruth Lea Goins

Ruth Lea Weldon Goins was born on November 6, 1925 in Sabine Parish to Amos Weldon and Ida Mathews Weldon. She passed peacefully on Sunday, August 28, 2016, just three months short of her 91^st birthday.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, Amos and Ida Weldon and her siblings, Sylvia, A. G., and Sherman. Left to cherish her memory are her children Janet and Pete Wilson, Rodney Goins, and Paula Bradley; her grandchildren, Danette French, Ken Wilson and wife Misty, and Misty Mayfield; her great-grandchildren Samuel and Sarah French; Clint, Megan, and Noah Wilson; and Emily Mayfield. Clint is currently serving in the United State Marine Corp. She was looking forward to the birth of her first great great-grandchild to Megan later this year. She was blessed to have a multitude of friends whom she considered family of choice in her community.

Visitation will be on Wednesday August 31 at 1:00 PM at Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Stanley. Services will follow at 2:30 PM. Interment will be in the cemetery adjacent to the church. At her request, Ruth will be carried from the church to her resting place in a wagon drawn by horses.

Ruth was the second daughter and had two younger brothers. She grew up in the Mt. Carmel-Peason-Florien area. She recalled riding to church in her father\'s wagon and playing on the Mt. Carmel High School basketball team. After graduation, which only included 11 grades at the time, she worked at the commissary at Fort Polk before marrying James Dewey Goins. ?They moved to Dallas, TX where she worked in a shop that made fishing lures.

When she was expecting the first of their three children, Janet Goins Wilson, wife of Pete Wilson, they moved home to be near family. They also lived in Shreveport for a short while before returning to Sabine Parish, where their son, James Rodney Goins, and younger daughter, Paula Goins Bradley, were born. ?They moved to Mansfield and Mr. Goins began working for International Paper Company (IP). ?They moved to the Hunter-Stanley community where Mr. Goins helped establish the IP Hunter Depot. Ruth was a stay-at-home-mom and active in her community. ?She was a regular fan at sports events, plays, and musical performances at Stanley High School, where her children attended school. After her younger daughter was in high school, she worked at DeSoto Regional Medical Center for almost 10 years before retiring to spend time with her retired husband, children, and three grandchildren.

Mr. Goins died in 1997. Ruth lived in their family home in Stanley until three years ago when she moved to Logansport. She continued to visit her friends all around the area. She especially enjoyed staying in touch with the many children who consider her their \"adopted\" grandmother and the adults she had enjoyed watching grow up through the years. At 90, she valued the many friends she had made in the area. \"You can\'t make old friends,\" she said.

Ruth recently read a quote she wanted to include in her obituary that represented her love of music, books, art, and people:

\" The song has ended but the melody lingers on.\"

Ruth Weldon Goins is greatly loved and will be sadly missed.