Editor’s Corner: Blytheville’s National Treasure

Often called “Blytheville’s national treasure,” 90-year-old Ruth Raspberry is a legend in her hometown. Once admitting to me, in an interview, she loved to work, Ms. Ruth was the face of the local Sears store for 69 years.

I first met Ms. Ruth about a year ago at the Blytheville Senior Citizen Center. This past week, she called to wish me a Happy Birthday. Although, I was not available, I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. She is a true treasure this community can be very proud of.

“A plain ole country girl,” Ms. Ruth was born Dec. 16. 1932 in Yarbro to Jessie and Christine Krech. She was the sixth of eight children.

Raised on a farm, she graduated from Gosnell High School in 1950. The Sears appliance store came to town the same year and Ms Ruth went to work.

In 1951, she married her high school sweetheart William E. Raspberry, who would work for the Arkansas Highway Department for many years.

Ms. Ruth was forced to retired when the Sears store closed in 2021 or she would probably still be working there.

“I probably would have never quit,” she laughed. “My co-workers became my family. You spend more time at work than you do home so they become your family.”

She once told me, as a girl, she would mark everything she wanted for Christmas in the Sears Wish Book. Following the harvest season, her mom would make sure there was always something under the Christmas tree.

Ms. Ruth also had fun picking out new dresses from the catalog. “I would show my mom which ones I liked,” she recalled with pride. “She would then make me one just like it out of a flour or feed sack.”

The “ole country girl” even told me she loved to pick cotton. “I was fast and after I picked 200 pounds, dad would let me go home for the day,” she smiled. “I always finished early.”

Folks, they don’t raise them like that anymore.

Having been termed a “Golden Girl” more than once in her life, Ms. Ruth has an incredible sense of humor and keeps most people in her life laughing... including this editor.

Ms. Ruth was raised right and has lived her life right. The evidence is in her own words, ““If you have God, family, health, food and a roof over your head, what more do you need?”

Love you Ms. Ruth and thank you for my birthday wishes. You truly made my day.

Sandra Brand is the editor of the NEA Town Courier and The Osceola Times. She may be reached by phone at 870-763-4461 or 870-563-2615 or by email at brand@osceolatimes.com.