Jimmie Ruth (Adair) Carson was born in Piney, Oklahoma, in rural Adair County, on December 12, 1932. She passed away in Tulsa in the early morning of November 6, 2011. Her death was a result of complications from Parkinson's disease, from which she had suffered for more than two decades.

Jimmie Ruth was the eldest daughter of Virgil and Golda Adair. She was born at the home of her parents, who lived on a small farm in the close-knit community ten miles from Stilwell, Oklahoma.
She attended school in Piney's one-room schoolhouse, alongside many of her relatives. She graduated from Stilwell High School in 1949. Jimmie Ruth attended the Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha, Oklahoma, for one year, and then received her college degree in 1955 from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where she was an active member of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority.

In 1955, she married Jack Carson, also of Stilwell, in Tucumcari, New Mexico. On September 16, 2011, they celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary. Together, the couple began a life that took to them to many tiny communities throughout the Southwest, where Jack worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). As Jack worked to improve agricultural practices on the reservations, Jimmie Ruth taught school, often at boarding schools operated by the BIA. Among the communities where she lived and worked were Stratford, Texas; Cortez, Colorado; Mexican Springs, New Mexico; and Fort Defiance, Arizona.

In 1960, Jimmie Ruth and Jack moved to Holbrook, Arizona. There, in 1963, they welcomed their first son, Chris Adair Carson. In 1965, they moved again, this time to Winslow, Arizona, where another son, Brad Rogers Carson, was born in 1967. During the early years of her sons' lives, Jimmie Ruth stopped teaching so that could devote herself to her young family. In 1967, the family moved to Cherokee, North Carolina, where Jack began work with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Jimmie Ruth stayed at home to take care of her sons.

In 1970, Jimmie Ruth and her family moved to the small farming community of Horton, Kansas, where Jack was BIA Superintendent of the Kickapoo, Pottawatomie, Sac & Fox, and Iowa Reservations. Once both of her sons were in school, Jimmie Ruth started teaching again, although mostly as a substitute. She also resumed her life-long love of music. Having learned piano as a young girl, she studied the organ as an adult, and began a long-time career as volunteer church organist. In 1977, the Carson family moved to Lenexa, Kansas, and in 1982 returned to Oklahoma, making their home in Tulsa.

Jimmie Ruth devoted her life to the success of her family. Above all, she valued education, and tried to provide opportunities to her sons that she herself had never known. She organized annual summer vacations throughout the United States, where the family would spend two weeks driving from one historical site to another. She arranged for music lessons, and, no matter the situation, demanded excellence. She believed two professions to be most important: law and medicine. One of her sons became a doctor; the other a lawyer.

In retirement, Jimmie Ruth, who had never been abroad, and her husband took a series of international trips. They went to Europe on two occasions, as well as to Australia, New Zealand, China, and Mexico, among many other places. She continued to play the piano and organ, until the Parkinson's disease made that impossible. She loved the Tulsa World and New York Times crossword puzzles. She never missed a new National Enquirer, a habit she had picked up from her own mother and which she proudly defended. And she enjoyed playing Trivial Pursuit with her family and the friends of her sons, who would often come to her home for cookouts and games.

Jimmie Ruth Carson is preceded in death by her parents, Virgil and Golda Adair.

She is survived by her husband, Jack, two sons, and one grandson. Her eldest son, Chris, lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Her youngest son, Brad, lives in Claremore, Oklahoma, with his wife, Julie, and, their son, Jack David. She is also survived by a sister, Judy Gail Adair, of Tulsa, a dear sister-in-law, Louise Carson, of Stilwell, and many other family members.

Funeral services were held at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at Roberts/Reed-Culver Chapel. Interment followed at Stilwell City Cemetery.