Ruth Lee Bridges-Wooldridge
Class of 1943
 

Virginia Beach - Ruth Lee Wooldridge sang and danced her way out of Virginia Beach on August 26, 2013 at age 87. She had a vibrant life full of love and laughter, and will be missed by many. Born Ruth Lee Bridges in Lynchburg, she grew up in the Cradock section of Portsmouth - a place and era she fondly recalled her entire life. She was a proud graduate of Randolph Macon Woman's College and was married to Robert W. Wooldridge (who predeceased her in 2004) for fifty-six years. Ruth Lee was a wonderful mother to Bob Wooldridge, and his wife Jackie, of Herndon, VA and Sandy Paxson and her husband Nick, of Norfolk; and a doting grandmother to Meg Hammett and her husband, Greg, Caroline Wooldridge, Kate Wooldridge, Nick Paxson and Will Paxson. She also was an adoptive mother to many foreign students, including Dawn Xie and Phillips Gonzalez. She was an active member of Thalia United Methodist Church for over fifty years. For the last eight years Ruth Lee treasured her life at Westminster Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, where she enjoyed old and new friends, posed as a Calendar Girl, read plays and sang in musicals. A celebration of her life will be held at Westminster Canterbury, 3100 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach at 11 a.m. on August 31. The family welcomes friends at the home of Sandy Paxson, 9415 Norfolk Avenue, Norfolk 23503 from 6 to 9 p.m. on August 30. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Heifer International or to Randolph College in Lynchburg.

Published in The Virginian Pilot on August 28, 2013