Ruth Blevins Hughes

Wilmington, NC—Ruth Blevins Hughes passed away peacefully at the Wilmington Lower Cape Fear Hospice Center on August 28. She was 85.

Born July 8, 1934, to Banner and Edna Blevins in Pearisburg, VA, she married Willward Clifford Hughes Jr. (Bill) on May 1, 1954 at Upper Cross Roads Baptist Church in Fallston, MD.

After graduating from North Harford High School in 1952, she worked at Aberdeen Proving Ground as a secretary. She later supported her husband’s work in his extensive career with Nationwide Insurance, which took the family to Columbus, OH, Nashville, TN, and ultimately to Greensboro. There, she was a longtime volunteer with the Shepherd’s Center of Greensboro and the Forest Oaks Community Association.

Among her many accomplishments, Ruth was a Girl Scout and Cub Scout leader, and a Cary
High School Band Booster. She enjoyed cooking, gardening, birdwatching, jigsaw and crossword puzzles, playing golf and watching ACC basketball.

She is survived by her son, Willward Clifford Hughes III of Wilmington; her daughter, Jacqueline Ponzoni and son-in-law Robert Ponzoni of Carolina Beach; a brother, Charles Blevins and sister-in-law Evelyn Blevins of Forest Hill, MD; sister Dorothy Higinbothom of Bel Air, MD; sister Patricia Webster and brother-in-law Keith Webster of The Villages, FL; sister Nancy Brandon and brother-in-law Fred Brandon of Bel Air; 14 nieces and nephews; as well as Douglas K. Bai, a close family friend. She was preceded in death by her husband; a sister, Margaret McCall; and three brothers: Bruce, Francis and Banner Blevins, Jr.

Memorials may be made to the North Carolina Coastal Federation, 3609 NC 24, Newport, NC 28570 or Lower Cape Fear Hospice, 1414 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401.