Ruby (Gauze) Pigg
1929—2022
Ruby (Gauze) Pigg, 93, of Ashland, went home to be with our Lord and Savior, welcomed by family and friends Dec. 10, 2022.
She was born April 8, 1929 in Martin County, the daughter of Roland and Zilphia Preece Gauze, whose union produced 13 children. The only survivor is Vadis Gauze, age 96, of Inez. Deceased are Freelin Gauze, Lucien Gauze, Orville Gauze, James Arthur Gauze, Sherman Gauze, Florencie (Gauze) Hale, Flora (Gauze) Moore, Minerva (Gauze) Jones, Mildred (Gauze) Howard, Hazel Gauze and Eckel Gauze.
Ruby was well known for her integrity and work ethic, and she passed that trait to her children. For years in Martin County, where she grew up and lived most of her adult life when any event or organization was required in the Gauze family, they would always say, “call Ruby.” She loved people and never met a stranger, and that love extended to friends and family alike.
Her dad, Roland Gauze, started the Gauze lineage in Martin County, leaving more than 145 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He also began the Gauze Reunion, which would last for more than 50 years and include many Martin County officials whom he considered family. Dinner was not complete at the Gauze reunions without Ruby’s famous apple pies and chicken & dumplings.
A dear friend of the family, Jody Moore, once referenced Ruby as he quoted Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” She was always a “peacemaker” to our family. If you had a problem, she felt like you needed to settle it with kind words and return to loving one another. When she moved her family to Ashland in 1973, she was employed by the American National Rubber Company in Ceredo. Later, she was hired as a personal caregiver to Joseph & Sylvia Mansbach, eventually finishing her working career for Gerald & Annie Mansbach. She loved the Mansbach family. We will always be grateful for the kindness they showed our mother years after her 62nd birthday when she officially retired.
Her entrepreneurial spirit and creativity were always a part of Ruby. She made clothes for her children when they were youngsters and, in her 60s, started Ruby’s Quilting along with her daughter Kitty, later becoming Ruby & Kitty’s Quilting. They would attend quilt shows which supplemented her income. She left quite the legacy with her quilts which can be found in abundance in the home of each child, as well as family members from Georgia to Michigan.
She has been a member of Heritage Freewill Baptist Church in Ashland for nearly 40 years and was baptized by Reverend Sandy Adams, whom she adored.
Ruby is preceded in death by her husband, James Thurmond Pigg, who died in 1973. She is survived by three sons, Lindzie Pigg, Charles Douglas Adams (Gloria) and Ronnie Adams (Judy) and three daughters, Debby Marie Pigg, Dianna Ross (James) and Kitty Ann Sparks (Gary, deceased). She had seven grandchildren, Eric Adams, Timothy Adams (deceased), Sonya Kreger, William Robert Burgette, Ronnie James Adams, Susan Sullivan and Joshua Adams. Ruby had 11 great-grandchildren, C.J. Adams, Alyssa Adams, Libby and Gabby Adams, Danielle and Kasey Kreger, Isabella Adams, Clayton, Caleb and Rose Sullivan and Kaden Adams, and one great-great-grandson named Peyton Prescott.
The funeral was Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, at Crum Funeral Home, Inez, with Reverend Vadis (Chip) Gauze officiating. Burial was at the Adams Cemetery in Catlettsburg. Arrangements were under the direction of the Crum Funeral Home of Inez.