Obituary of Ruth Herrington

Ruth Herrington, 83, passed away June 21, 2006 in Everett, WA. Ruth was born August 1, 1922 to the union of Oscar Dobyns Jr. and his wife Nora (Selzer) Dobyns. Ruth's difficult childhood in the Dust Bowl was set to take a turn to a bright future in 1940 when she was scheduled to take the college entrance exam for Oklahoma University. Valedictorian of Bradly High, there was little doubt that she would pass, if she could get there. The hard scrabble existence of Depression Era Oklahoma farmers had no room for the luxury of education, least of all the education of a young woman. Her vivid gratitude to her father for taking a day from the fields to usher her the fifty miles to the test is something that she never took for granted. She succeeded at OU. She earned a Bachelors in Library Sciences, Phi Beta Kappa. While attending graduate school, she met a young Navy pilot, Fred Evans. They married and he whisked her away to places she had only dreamed of, New York, Virginia, California. Sadly, he did not survive the war, shot down over the Philippines in March of 1944. In 1947, she met and married Homer Herrington. She bore two sons to him before returning to work in 1962, at the McFarlin Library of the University of Tulsa. She stayed for 25 years as periodicals and research librarian, she oversaw the building and organization of a new wing. She was proud of that little library. Along the way, she patronized local artists, Ben Harjo and Loren Pasetopah who became influential contributors to the American Indian Art Movement. She collected art from the movement and of course, books. The books were about American Indians, culture and history. Her father, you see, was ¾ American Indian, a fact he always chose to ignore, she celebrated. Perhaps it was because of that crucial day in 1940 when he validated her life's ambitions and saw that she went to the college entrance exam. Ruth is survived by her sister, Doris Kingsbery of Austin, TX, her sons Stephen Herrington of Everett, WA, David Herrington of San Ramon, CA and David's sons Keith and Scott . Her husband, Homer, passed away in 1981 and she will rest next to him. Visitation will be at Ninde Woodland Funeral Home 5757 S. Memorial Drive 1:00pm to 8:00pm Sunday June 25th. Graveside service for Mrs. Herrington will be held at 10:00 a.m. Monday June 26 at Memorial Park in Tulsa, 5111 S. Memorial Drive. Ninde Woodland Chapel 918-728-8500.