DEXTER -- Ruth Esther Mayer, 76, died Nov. 19, 2007.
Born Dec. 10, 1930, in Frisco, daughter of Carter P. and Esther M. Smith Worley, she was a member of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Dexter. She served as the first woman elder of the congregation and actively participated in The Missouri Festival of Sharing for more than 20 years. She graduated from Dexter High School in 1947 and received her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Southeast Missouri State Teachers College in 1957. She began her career at Boyd School in Pyletown and later taught home economics at Dexter Middle School for 25 years. Her activities included Chapter CP, PEO and the Missouri State Retired Teachers Association, both for which she formerly served as president; CWF (Christian Women's Fellowship); Church Women United; and Board for the Division of Aging.
On Jan. 12, 1951, in Dexter she married Robert Jean Mayer who survives of the home.
Other survivors include: one daughter and son-in-law, Susan Ruth and Randy Bartlett of Cape Girardeau; two grandchildren and their spouses, Leigh Bartlett Havelick and husband David of Portland, Ore., and Robert William Bartlett and wife Amanda of Cape Girardeau; one great-grandson, Abram William Havelick of Portland; and two sisters-in-law and one brother-in-law.
She was preceded in death by two brothers, Kenneth Dale Worley and Carter Ronald Worley; and one sister, Marilyn Faye Pippins.
Visitation will be held from 4:30-8 p.m. today at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter where services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday with the Rev. Vaughn Wright officiating.
Burial will follow in the Dexter Cemetery.