Johnnie R. Harris

Johnnie “Ruth” Harris, age 81, of Dayton, went home to Glory on Monday, August 9, 2021.  Born on November 6, 1939 to Zion and Leatria (Cameron) Goode, Ruth was a native of Roanoke, Alabama, and has two sisters, Genelle Baker and Hazel Ghand, and two brothers, Joe Lewis and Leroy Goode.

Ruth went to high school with her sister Genelle, graduating from Randolph County Training School, and not long afterward moved North with her sister Hazel in Louisville, Kentucky, then moved on to Dayton, Ohio to further her career pursuits.

As a young adult, she connected with her good friend Christine Smith and later met her future and longtime husband Jerome Coleman Harris, whom she remained married to for 50 years before his death in 2015.  She and Jerome were long-time members of Freewill Primitive Baptist Church, now New Beginnings Full Gospel Church. She made many friends along the way while first working at Elder Beerman, then later Frigidaire and finally retiring after a long career from General Motors Truck & Bus as a production worker on the assembly line.

A sweet and giving soul, Ruth was known and loved far and wide for her down-home cooking, her giving spirit and her open-door policy.  All you had to do was pull up in the driveway and see that open garage door, and you knew she was sitting right there in the kitchen, cooking up a storm, and happy to greet you with a smile and some great conversation.  Even when her health was fading and she could no longer drive around the city running her own errands and dropping off a “pan” or cake, she still sat right in that chair and chatted you up, asking YOU how you were doing and always offering to help you out in any way she could.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerome C. Harris; her son, Todd Williams; her brother, Joe Lewis Goode; her parents, Leatria and Zion Goode, of Roanoke, Alabama; her great nephew Jeffrey Cameron, and her great niece Takara Cameron.  She is survived by her children, Claude, Tina and Lisa Williams; her sisters, Hazel Ghand and Genelle Baker; her nephews, Lonnie Cameron, Sendy Baker, Jeffery Baker, Kenneth Baker, Michael Goode, Joseph Tarront, Anthony Tarront, Willie “Rhynnie” Smith, Glen Hunter, Warren Hunter, and Michael Hunter; her nieces, Judy Ann Baker, Brenetta Tucker, Erma Ruth Hill, Faye Naseer, Yvonne Carter, Kristy Moore, Vicki Harris, and Angela Jones; goddaughter Dereka Smith; and a host of other great nieces and nephews, cousins, extended family members and friends.

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