Ruth Whitley

Mrs. Ruth Whitley made her transition on August 4, 2024. Please take a moment to leave comforting words for her family. Her memorial service will be livestreamed here on the Kemp Funeral Home website starting at 2:30 pm (est). The link for the service will not go live until Saturday, August 17th at 2:30pm (est) Go to kempfuneralhome.com Click on her tribute picture Scroll down on the tribute wall and you will see "Kemp Funeral Home created a tribute" or on your mobile device go to photos and videos. Click the play button and you will be redirected to Zoom and you can wait for the host to let you in. If you have any questions regarding the instructions on the day of service please give us a call. Ruth Thompson Whitley, daughter of Cornelia Woods and Reverend George Thompson, was born August 11, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan. She departed this life on Sunday, August 04, 2024 at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. She was the last of four children: Earl, Grady and Majestice. Her siblings preceded her in death. Ruth was raised in Detroit and educated in the Detroit public schools. She had a passion for learning, reading, Black History and current affairs. She held a rich library of New York bestsellers and autobiography of famous personalities. She loved scriptures and spent quality in the word and prayers. Of a quiet demeanor, but possessed of a strong, independent and resilient spirit. She was loving and compassionate, providing sustained support to many charity organizations including St. Jude and the Red Cross. She was a lover of animals, especially dogs and cats. She cared with great devotion for her dog, Sherifa. As a teenager, during WWII, while her brother Grady served in the army, Ruth was a member of the American Junior Red Cross. In addition, she completed a preparatory course at the Detroit Conservatory of Music. After finishing high school, she worked at the Northville Regional Psychiatric Hospital as a Nurse’s Aide. She received commendation from Mayor Coleman Young for thirty-one years of distinguished service and outstanding contribution to the mental health community. “Your years of dedicated service and professionalism provide an excellent example…” She took great pride in her work. Ruth helped her father in the family store on Ohio Street. Sister Whitley confessed a faith and a hope in Christ at an early age and was baptized as a teenager and united with New Mount Vernon Baptist Church under the pastorate of Reverend Philips and later under her father the late Rev George Lee Thompson. Later in her life, she maintained membership with St. James Baptist Church during the pastorate of Reverend Charles H. Nicks, Jr. She worshipped at the Macedonia Baptist Church, Bethesda, Maryland. She was devoted to the virtual ministry at Macedonia Baptist Church during the covid period. In 1954, she was joined in holy matrimony to Troy Whitley. She was a very loyal and devoted wife. Her husband died in 2011. Ruth was very proud of her native Dublin, Georgia. One of the highlights of her life was attending the Buckeye family reunion in Dublin where she was introduced to a deeper understanding of the noble history of her family. She was committed to reuniting with her Georgia family. As a child Ruth visited Dublin with her parents. She fondly remembers her grandfather, affectionately called Papa Woods, placing her on his shoulders and helping her pick figs from the family garden. In 2018, Ruth visited Dublin, Georgia for the last time to attend a family reunion. She had the opportunity to visit Buckeye Baptist Church, the institution built by her ancestors and sit in the very pews built by her grandpa Woods and her relatives. We visited the family burial ground, next to the church where generations of family members were laid to rest. Ruth returned home with a sample of the red clay of Georgia that she treasured. Ruth was particularly devoted to her aunts who fled the barbarism of white violence in the south to forge new opportunities through the Great Negro Migration headed to the industrial north, Detroit - Bessie Wood Chapman, Mamie Wood Bradshaw, Alzeida Wood Walker, Adleane Wood, Willie Ann Wood Kemp and her brother Daniel Wood. She adored her aunt Beatrice Wood Water who was a beautiful pianist. One of the highlights of her life was her travels in West Africa where she visited Ghana, the Gambia and Senegal and for the first time experienced a level of freedom that she treasured for the rest of her life. She visited Gore Island, in Senegal - the last place that many African-Americans touched African soil before being kidnapped to the Americas. She had distinct and elegant taste for clothing – particularly African dresses and expensive perfumes. She loved cooking for family and loved shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes and sweet potato pie. She was very generous and giving, especially to her great nephew, Olusina and great niece, Folasade on whom she lavished much love and attention. She lived to make them happy and was their greatest advocate. She proudly escorted them to Kiddie College at Marygrove College every summer when then stayed in Detroit during their summer vacation with their grandma. Nearly every wall in her house contains a picture of Sina and Sade. She encouraged them throughout their college education and later graduate school. She attended every graduation and family event as the elder of the family bestowing her blessings and love upon “her Sina and Sade.” She leaves to cherish her memories many nieces and nephews, including Mary and James Jefferson of Dublin, Georgia, Linda Thompson Barnes of New York, Veronica Thompson of Florida, Drs. Marsha and Segun Adebayo of Bethesda, Maryland, Cornell Thompson of Tennessee, Ronald and Elizabeth Thompson-Bey of Detroit; Teresa Chapman and Darryl Short of Detroit; Deborah Dailey of Detroit and her daughters Kara of Virginia and Karla Robertson of Florida, great nephew Olusina Adebayo, great niece, Folasade Adebayo, a host of cousins, relatives and friends. The family will deeply miss her wisdom and laughter but rejoices in the belief and blessed hope that she now rests with the Lord.

Ruth Whitley

August 11, 1929 - August 4, 2024