Ruth Marie Cox Douglass

RUTH MARIE COX DOUGLASS, 91, of Little Rock, died Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. She was born on March 3, 1924, in Ben Lomond, Sevier County, Ark., to the late Philip and Addie Dowell Cox. She was raised in Winthrop, Ark. She was a member of Oak Forest United Methodist Church and Brady Home Extension Club. After graduating from high school, she attended Baptist School of Nursing, graduating in 1949. Ruth started her long career in nursing with Baptist Hospital where she met her future husband, Jimmie Douglass, one of her patients. After she and Jimmie started a family, they moved to Texas. She continued her career at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth, and Northwest Texas Medical Center in Amarillo. After the family returned to Little Rock in 1968, she began working at UAMS, retiring in 1989 as Assistant Director of Nursing. Ruth inspired two of her grandchildren to become nurses. She and Jimmie loved fishing on Lake Ouachita and in later years, traveling to Branson. Her greatest joy came from being "Nan" to her seven grandchildren and her great-grandson. Ruth loved cooking for her family and she was also an avid baker, baking not only the communion bread for her church but a wickedly delicious rum cake. Family members were sent on errands to buy just the right rum. In addition to her parents, Ruth was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, James Lee Douglass Sr., her brothers, Thomas W. Cox of New Orleans and James F. Cox of Little Rock. She is survived by her son, Lee Douglass (Mauri); their children, Keri Walker (Howard), Jay, and Sam Douglass; daughters, Lissa Simpson (Bill), their children, Doug (Leanne), Michael, and Michelle Simpson, all of North Little Rock; and Jennifer Sparks (Mike), and their child, Hanna Sparks of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and great-grandson, Owen Walker. She is also survived by her brother, Philip (Jama) Cox, of Bigelow, Ark. Additionally, she is survived by several nieces, nephews and cousins. Services will be held Monday, Feb. 15, 2016 at 11 a.m. at Ruebel Funeral Home with Rev. Mike Blanchard as officiant. Visitation will be held at Ruebel Funeral Home on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016 from 4 to 6 p.m. A private interment will be at Oakland Fraternal Cemetery. Pallbearers will be her grandsons and sons-in-law. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Oak Forest United Methodist Church or UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Research Center. The family wishes to thank Dr. Robert Cheek and physicians and nursing staff at UAMS for their compassionate care through the years. The family also wishes to thank Hospice Home Care. To share your memories of Ruth and to sign the online guest register, please visit www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.