Nancy Joe Bedford Ross

Nancy Joe Bedford Ross, 81, died Monday, Dec. 9, in Rock Hill, S.C., of Alzheimer's Disease. She was born Nov. 13, 1932, in Muskogee, Okla., and lived most of her life in Fort Smith, Ark. - although she and her family moved often, their trail marked everywhere by lasting friendships. Nancy graduated from Fort Smith High School. She attended Fort Smith Junior College and the University of Arkansas. A Pi Beta Phi sorority sister introduced her to Rutherford Jack (Rudd) Ross Jr., whom she married in Fort Smith in 1953. They had four daughters and a son, raised in towns and cities across the south. Volunteer work was Nancy's career; in a resume prepared in the 1990s, she listed her objective as "meaningful community service." She was a Girl Scout troop leader, an officer of the Junior League, a hospital volunteer, and a PTA President. She worked on the Crisis Hotline of Greater New Orleans, was a member of the League of Women Voters, and volunteered as a juvenile probation counselor. She was a member of both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She was a Catholic and a lifelong Democrat. After her husband retired, in 1990, he and Nancy returned to Fort Smith, slipping quickly back into the many friendships of their early years together. Nancy was quick-witted, generous, and unfailingly cheerful. Wherever the family went, she launched a new social life. She loved parties, and she set a sparkling table. She found the advice of Emily Post and the daily Hints from Heloise equally useful and entertaining. Nancy liked company, but she was a great reader, too. Long before she had the opportunity to travel, books were her passport to the world. In 1979, when Nancy and Rudd lived in Lake Jackson, Texas, she served as chairwoman of the local library board for eight years. She went back to college and received a BA in English from the University of Houston in 1985, the same year she had her braces removed and quit smoking. In 1989, she earned a Master's degree. Nancy and Rudd were world travelers: they began their married life together with a honeymoon in Jamaica and Cuba, in 1953, and in the ensuing 58 years had their passports stamped all across Europe and the Americas. Nancy and Rudd drove their travel trailer north from Texas to Maine and south down the Baja Peninsula. After they sold the camper, their last big trip was a move to Rock Hill, S.C., in 2009. Nancy was preceded in death by her husband; her son, Rutherford Jack Ross III; her parents, Charles Cecil Bedford and Dorothy Quinn Bedford; and her sister, Sally Lee Bedford. She is survived by four daughters, Cynthia Bradford and her husband, Charles, of York, S.C.; Dorothy Martin (Marty) Ross and her husband, Daniel Hopkins, of Kansas City, Mo.; Nancy Gordon (Bird) Ross and her husband, Tom Loeser, of Madison, Wis.; and Sara Rutherford (Sally) Ross of Fort Worth, Texas, as well as by eight grandchildren and a four-month-old great-grandchild, whom she met a few days before she died. A memorial service is planned for the spring. Her ashes will be scattered at Oak Cemetery in Fort Smith, in the Ross-Martin family plot. We are very grateful for the help and support of the Alzheimer's Association. In memory of our dear mom, please pick up a book, read a story to a child or to an older person who can no longer read for themselves, volunteer at your local library, and pay your library fines cheerfully. Arrangements by Greene Funeral Home, Rock Hill, S.C. Condolences may be made at www.greenefuneralhome.net.