Ruth Caroline (Riley) Gantt

Ruth Caroline Riley Gantt went to her rest on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.  She was a wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, great-aunt, cousin and friend who was born in New Jersey and joined the Navy as a WAVE after graduating from high school.  She met her husband of 74 years at a USO gathering in New York.  They married after the war and eventually settled in Richardson, Texas, where they lived until 2017.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband Clinton Gantt, her son Clinton Gantt, Jr. and her granddaughter Katherine Shropshire.

She is survived by two daughters; Barbara, her husband Michael Shropshire and Patricia Allday-Munson, seven grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Ruth worked for many years in the theater department as the administrative assistant to the dean at Southern Methodist University.

She was a regular patron at the Richardson Public Library beginning with the visits to the dry goods store when it was initially established.  She and her husband were supporters of the WWII Museum in New Orleans since it’s inception where they were photographed as one of the few surviving veteran couples of the war.  She and her husband were members of the St. Mark Catholic Church community in Plano, Texas.

She will be interred next to her husband in the Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery at a later date.  A dual celebration of life will also be at a later date.

We thank VITAS hospice staff for their dedicated gentle caring for our mother in her final days.

Donations in her name may be offered to the WWII New Orleans Museum, St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church of Plano, CdLS, and Katherine Elizabeth Shropshire Endowed Scholarship in the School of Nursing at University of Texas, Arlington.

Bonham Bros & Stewart Mortuary and Cremation Service is assisting the family.

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