Ruth K. Ellis

Ruth K. Ellis, known affectionately by her family and friends as Ruthie, passed away Monday, February 1, 2021, at the age of 68 after a brief but fierce battle with cancer. Ruthie was born November 5, 1952 to Eddie and Mildred Kidd of Scottsville Va.

Ruthie grew up in Scottsville, Va with her parents and siblings. Her eldest sister Audrey would watch Ruthie and Becky when they were little, and the bonds forged during those formative years were ones that stayed with her always. Audrey, Becky, and Ruthie had a bond that for most siblings is unimaginable. They love each other fiercely, and were jokingly called the “Kidd Mafia” because if you cut one of them, they all bleed.

Ruthie was a dedicated Operating Room Nurse at the Martha Jefferson Hospital for over 30 years. She was tireless and unflinching in advocating for the well-being of her patients, ensuring their needs and interests were met without regard to whose feathers she ruffled. At the same time, she would reassure and comfort her patients in their most vulnerable and uncertain moments before and after surgery, often putting them at ease with her quick wit, and dry – often inappropriate – humor. Loyal to a fault, the friendships Ruthie cultivated over her career were some of the strongest and longest of her life.

Ruthie loved great coffee, good food, beautiful music, and her family. She would stop at Trager Brothers Coffee when driving from Charlottesville to Lynchburg and spoke of how she loved smelling the beans being roasted as she passed through Lovingston. Ruthie also loved to stop at Saunders Orchard in the summer to pick peaches as they ripened. She enjoyed long peaceful walks with her daughters on the Blackwater Creek and Carter’s Mountain trails. She always said that she felt better after walking and was very proud that she could walk ten miles on a mild sunny spring day. She was a vegetarian and was very passionate about different health food plans and the way G-BOMBS made her feel. She loved the beach.

Ruthie was also an accomplished seamstress, whose dresses and costumes were, for her, a source of pride, and for everyone else, the objects of envy. A perfectionist, it mattered not whether she was making a dress for Snow White or Dorothy, or the Tin Man’s costume, or that of a milking cow or the Cheshire Cat, they were flawless. Ruthie fostered a love of the arts in her girls from an early age. They went to camps, took dance classes, and participated for many years in the Fine Arts Center’s rendition of the Nutcracker. The girls always had the best braids courtesy of Ruthie and her rat-tailed comb.

Road trips with Ruthie were always the best, going to the Outer Banks, Rochester, NY, or to Washington, DC. Bundled under a thick layer of blankets as Charlie blasted the air conditioning, Ruthie would sing and play road trip games. She always said that she wanted to go to Times Square for New Year’s Eve and to visit the Grand Canyon. Although a traveler at heart, Ruthie also loved the comforts of home. She loved the house she and Charlie bought in Lynchburg, and said she thought it looked like a dollhouse.

Ruthie is survived by her two daughters, Anna Ellis of Lynchburg and Sarah Ellis of Gordonsville; her sisters Rebecca Kidd of Scottsville and Audrey Davis of Lynchburg, and her many nephews and nieces who she adored. She is preceded in death by her parents Eddie and Mildred Kidd, of Scottsville, her brother John Kidd of Scottsville, and her loving husband Charlie Ellis, of Lynchburg Va.

At Ruthie’s request no traditional service will be held.

In lieu of flowers Ruthie’s family requests donations be made to the Awareness Garden at Blackwater Creek trail in Lynchburg Va. awarenessgargen.org Ruthie frequently enjoyed quiet moments after her walks in the awareness garden where she could enjoy the sunshine in the shade.

Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family.