Ruth Lorine Weber was born to Gustav and Cecelia Weber when they lived at 29 E. Maryland Street in Evansville. She advanced quickly through school, graduating from Reitz High School in 1926 at age 16 and getting a teaching certificate by 19. She started teaching in 1928 at Baker Elementary School for a salary of $900 a year.

In the 1930s, she met James Rye Stephenson, a traveling salesman from Tennessee. Her sister Mary Ann recalled in 2008 that they met at a betting parlor. Jim, who sold meats and cheeses at the time according to some recollections and candy bars according to another, was from just outside Memphis, but his territory included southern Indiana. He and Ruth married Jan. 23, 1937, right about the time a major flood created havoc in Evansville. Soon, Ruth became pregnant and couldn't teach. The couple moved to Memphis along with Ruth's sister Mary Ann, who was in ninth grade at the time. Ruth lost that baby, but after they moved back to Evansville, Ruth and the wife of Jim's brother, Everett, were pregnant about the same time. The plan was for the first born to be named after Jim and Everett's mother, Frankie. Wilfred Franklin Stephenson was born to Ruth and Jim in 1939. A year later came a sister, Gayle. Three years later, Larry, the most driven of the trio, was born on Jan. 4, 1943.

With seven sisters and a brother in Evansville, Ruth was pretty tied to the community. "He could never get her out of there,'' said Jim's sister, Johnnie Whitaker. "She wouldn't leave for nothing." The children were active in athletics and played with their many cousins often. For a while, Jim gave up the sales business and tried driving a cab in Evansville, but his mother, Frankie, dominated the Stephenson side of the family and kept pulling him back toward Memphis. "I really think he loved Ruth," Jim's nephew, Michael R. Stephenson, said in April 2008. "Ruth would never move to Memphis and Jim was always torn between his mother and Ruth. He would get things going pretty well in Evansville and then his mother would call and boom, he'd go back." Michael's mother, Wilma Stephenson, Jim's sister in law, made a similar point in April 2008: "He was a momma's boy. He would disappear and go up to Evansville. … Then he would come back and stay awhile. He had wandering feet I guess. We never did get along too well." Jim served in the Navy in World War II. After the war, Jim continued to try to get Ruth to Memphis. She and the kids came for brief periods, but she always returned to Evansville to teach. As Ruth's son, Frank, remembered one split, Jim had too much to drink and slapped Ruth in a dispute. One of Ruth's many brothers in law, Bob Thompson, headed for his gun. "Dad split and headed back to Tennessee," Frank said in 1998. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time because Uncle Bob didn't play that game." Frank described Ruth and Jim as a mismatched pair. "He was a cab driver, and mom was an educated teacher." In 1948, Jim moved back to Memphis expecting Ruth and the kids to follow after the school year. She joined him at 1042 Madison Avenue in the summer of 1949 but stayed only about a month before returning to Evansville to have nothing to do with him any more, according to Jim's 1955 petition for divorce. Jim was granted the divorce and agreed to pay $20 a week of child support.

Ruth carried on in an era when single motherhood wasn't commonplace. Her teaching career supported the family. "She raised us," Frank said. "We always had meals on the table." Ruth might have recognized Larry's potential early on. She was a strict elementary school teacher at Vogel from 1951-72 in Evansville. "Mother was hard on Larry,'' Frank said. "She just expected more out of him. He had to earn everything with her. She wouldn't give him no breaks." Larry generally rose to the expectations. Be it essay or athletic contests, he often was a winner. In addition to teaching, Ruth coached boys basketball at Vogel in the late 1950s. Dawn (Walsh) Faw, who attended Vogel in the 1960s, remembered Ruth fondly more than 40 years later. "I attended Vogel all the way thru 8th grade and she was my library teacher," Faw wrote in a December 2010 e-mail. "I used to devour books and I remember her fondly. Once she held the auditions for the school play and didn't make it. She let me down very gently and was so kind to me."

Ruth retired from teaching in 1972 but stayed sharp for years working crossword puzzles. For much of the 1980s, she lived with her daughter, Gayle Burnes. But with Gayle having gambling-related financial troubles, Ruth became more than she could handle. Larry, who had moved to Florida and overcome his own gambling problems, had achieved financial success through a monthly newspaper he started for senior citizens in the Fort Pierce area. In the early 1990s, he decided it would be best if Ruth lived with him in Florida. Ruth lived with Larry and his wife, Pam, for a few years before her falls and health concerns became too much for them. She needed round-the-clock attention, which was more than they could do while running their own business. In the spring of 1997, she moved to the Beverly Health & Rehabilitation Center in nearby Port St. Lucie. Larry visited her several times a week. Larry's son Mike and his wife, Jennifer, came to Fort Pierce for Christmas in 1997 and visited Ruth on Dec. 26. "I hoped I'd never have to make this call,'' Larry said three days later, telling Mike of Ruth's death. Larry had seen her earlier on Dec. 29, the day she died. She would have been 88 in about a month. He had hoped she would live to see the 21st century. Larry arranged for Ruth to be buried in Evansville at Locust Hill Cemetery, where much of her family rested. Larry arrived back home for the funeral on Jan. 4, his birthday. The viewing on Jan. 5 brought together many family members who hadn't seen each other in years. Frank attended, as did his daughter Tina, her husband, Gary Baack, and son Chase. Gayle was there, as were her children, Charlie, Ruth and Mary, and their families. Many friends of Larry's and students of Ruth's attended. The funeral was Jan. 6 at Locust Hill.

WHERE SHE TAUGHT
1928-39 Baker Elementary
NOTE: Children born between 1939-43
1944-45 Chestnut-Walnut
1945-47 Stanley Hall
1951-72 Vogel Elementary
Retirement date: June 9, 1972

OBITUARY
Jan. 3, 1998, Evansville Courier

Ruth L. Weber Stephenson, 87, died Monday evening at Beverly Health & Rehabilitation Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

She retired in 1972 after 38 years as an elementary school teacher in Evansville, the last 25 years at Vogel School. She taught English, speech, drama and library sciences.

She was the boys fifth- and sixth-grade basketball coach at Vogel in the late 1950s.

She was a member of St. Lucas United Church of Christ and a life member of the Indiana Congress of Parents and Teachers.

Surviving are a daughter, Gayle Burnes of Princeton, Ind.; two sons, Larry of Fort Pierce, Fla., and Frank of Indianapolis; four sisters, Mary Ann Van Britson, Bertha Alvey, Betty (sic) Clark and Alyne Thompson, all of Evansville; a brother, Frederick Willard Weber of Evansville; eight grandchildren; and great grandchildren.

Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Locust Hill Cemetery, the Rev. Thom Webster officiating.

Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Ziemer Funeral Home East Chapel.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Lucas Church.