Ruby Lucille Taylor Lents

Ruby "Memaw" Lucille Taylor Lents passed away surrounded by family on August 2, 2014 in Birmingham, AL at the age of 93. She was born August 14, 1920 in the Lonsdale neighborhood of Knoxville, TN to James Henry Taylor and Lola Isabelle Johnson, who preceded her in death in 1937 and 1936 respectively. During her early years, which she dedicated to the care of her ailing parents and to the raising of her younger sister, Jackie, Ruby found solace in music. Owner of a mean "country alto", she lent her authentic, expressive voice to everything from the stately hymns at Laurel Church of Christ to the gritty folk songs of music legend Roy Acuff, who after performing with her on WROL in Knoxville, offered her a slot in his touring ensemble, starting with the Grand Ole Opry (it was not to be). On one of her bus trips to the radio station, standing out from the crowd with her French tam hat and guitar slung across her shoulder, she was approached by former classmate James M. Lents, Sr., whom she would marry on April 4, 1942 and share sixty-four years with until his death in 2006. Ruby was just as happy for her eventual tour of the US to be familial, and not musical, in nature, as she nurtured her young family, which now included two children, James M. Lents, Jr. and Patricia Lents Pleasant, throughout Jim's multiple Air Force deployments, which took them from one side of the country to the other. Once they settled in Knoxville, TN in 1946, she went to work for the first of twenty-five years at Standard Knitting Mill. She was a gifted seamstress whose window-shopping was often for patterns, and not necessarily for clothes, because she only needed to see a thing to know exactly how to make it. Later in life, she founded Memaw's Quilts, a ministry to provide handmade quilts to underprivileged children. Ruby is survived by her two children, James M. Lents, Jr. (Suzanne) and Patricia Lents Pleasant (John); four grandchildren, Marc Lents (Myra), Johnny Pleasant, Amy Pleasant, Rachel Lents Maurer (Chris); and four great-grandchildren, Marci Henderson, Ellis Henderson, James M. Lents, III, and Charlotte Lents. Ruby's Memorial Service will be held Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel, 6200 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919 on Thursday at 2:00 PM, EST. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Homewood Church of Christ for Memaw's Quilts, a ministry to provide handmade items to underprivileged children: 265 W. Oxmoor Road, Birmingham, AL 35209. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 1:00 – 2:00 PM, EST, at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel.

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Ruby Lucille Taylor Lents

September 14, 1920 - August 2, 2014