Ruby Tope

LILBOURN -- Ruby Rosalia Tope, 87, died Jan. 29, 2007, at Beverly Healthcare in New Madrid.

Born May 9, 1919, in Catron, daughter of the late Ralph and Ethel M. Riggs Tope Sr., she was a retired school teacher and principal from Lilbourn Elementary School, a lifetime member of First Baptist Church in Lilbourn and a member and past worthy matron of the Eastern Star.

Survivors include: one brother, Ralph "Blackie" Tope Jr. of Lilbourn; three nephews, Paul Ralph Atwill of Olive Branch, Miss., Tony Tope of Cordova, Tenn., and Tracy Tope of Lilbourn; and one niece, Jackie Sullenger of Lilbourn.

She was preceded in death by two sisters, Hazel Garner and Virginia Atwill.

Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Ponder Funeral Home in Lilbourn. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the First Baptist Church in Lilbourn with the Rev. Paul Hicks, pastor, officiating.

Burial will follow in the Mounds Park Cemetery at Lilbourn.