Funeral Services for Mrs. Mary Virginia (Ruth) Higginbotham will be held on Friday, January 22, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. in the Herb Clark Memorial Chapel with Brother Benjamin Keel, grandson, officiating. Interment will follow in the Condon Grove Cemetery.

Mary Virginia (Ruth) Higginbotham, 81, of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, surrounded by cherished family, returned to her Heavenly home on January 19, 2016, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Virginia was born on February 24, 1934 to Ocie Cernell and Martha Edna (Leatherwood) Ruth. She is the granddaughter of the late Felix Benjamin and Saran Virginia (Lee) Ruth and the late John Earnest and Laura (New) Leatherwood. She was raised in the countryside of Tishomingo, with her siblings, Pauline, Oscar, Otis, Judy, Charlene and Hazel, where she learned the value of hard work, to always live an honorable life, and where she developed the love of a good pie crust, passed down from momma. She was known for her sometimes sassy and memorable story-telling, her thrifty shopping and her love of Westerns. Virginia had a generous and giving spirit, which came from her deep faith in God.   In life, there was nothing Virginia held more dearly than her family. Her grandchildren fondly remember many weekends at Grandma Virginia’s, pinching biscuits and dropping them in the pan to sizzle while she whisked up the gravy. Her daughters, Kay, Dorothy and Christine loved their traditional daily phone calls that only ended when one of her other daughters or sisters beeped in. Much of her later years were spent alongside her dear sister, Pauline, as they kept tabs on their younger siblings and family. She truly was, and forever will be, a brave and strong beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, daughter, sister and friend.

 Virginia is survived by three daughters, Mary Kay Scaggs Brown of Tecumseh, Dorothy Edna Scaggs (Don) Handcock of Healdton and Virginia Christine Wooton Handcock of Lone Grove, her siblings, Pauline Edwards of Tishomingo, Charlene (Lonnie) Sorrell of New Castle, Hazel Ruth of Ardmore, and Otis (Carolyn) Ruth of Enid; her 13 grandchildren, Amy Keel (Andrew) Brown of St. Louis, Missouri, Julie Keel (Lance) Coker of Tecumseh, Kelly Keel (Ellison) Cabreros of Spanish Fork, Utah, Sheyenne (Misti) Handcock of Healdton, Amanda Alexander (Noah) Patty of Lone Grove, Brandy Paige Doyle of Lawton, Benjamin (April) Keel of Norman, Scott (Amy) Alexander of Healdton, Kellie Doyle (Patrick) Tuttle of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, Melissa Handcock (Ryan) Moody of Ardmore, and Laura L. Brown of Tecumseh, and her 25 great-grandchildren, numerous other nieces, nephews, cousins and frends.

 She was preceded in death by her parents, great-grandparents, her brother, Oscar Cleveland Ruth and her sister, Judy Annette (Ruth) Wallace; her late husbands, Ray Scaggs, Charlie Wooton and Don Higginbotham, and other family members.

Pallbearers will be: Sheyenne Handcock, Benjamin Keel, Scott Alexander, Noah Patty, Lane Blanton and Jay Burns.