Ruby Allene Degase Taber Satterfield, 93

Ruby Allene Degase Taber Satterfield, 93, of Wasola, died Aug. 1, 2022, at her home with family by her side. A celebration of life ceremony will be held at Clark Church at a later date. 

By her request she was cremated, and her ashes will be spread with those of her beloved late husband Joe and their son Kasey.

She was born April 23, 1929, in Squires to Lige and Lela (Wise) Degase.

She graduated from Ava High School in 1947 and attended two years of college at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University), where she became a teacher. 

Ruby married Joe D. Taber on April 9, 1952. They were blessed with five children whom they loved very much.

She started her teaching career at Barefoot school, a one-room schoolhouse in Taney County close to Joe’s family. 

The couple later bought a farm on Little Creek which her family lovingly called Degase Hollar. 

When Ruby and Joe moved, she took a job at another one-room schoolhouse, Clark School, before she retired to milk cows and raise the kids.

Ruby and Joe were married for 39 years before his death on March 28, 1991.

Ruby married Charles Robert Satterfield Sept. 5, 1992. He died Sept. 17, 2021. She loved the nine step-children and grandchildren she accepted as her own through this marriage.

To quote Ruby, “I was dealt some good cards, being born in the Ozarks, having the best parents of anyone - especially a Christian mother and having a precious Aunt Audree.” 

Ruby was converted at an early age under Aunt Audree Degase’s Pentecostal ministry and baptized in the waters of Little Creek. She later attended Clark Church with Pastor and friend Mark Degase. 

Her favorite scripture is the Lord’s prayer, Psalms 23. 

In her 93 years, she endured many things most would not realize: the Great Depression, several wars, threat of the Cold War and surviving the loss of loved ones.

Her empathy for everyone she knew is what she was known for and how she will be remembered by everyone who was lucky enough to know her. 

Ruby and her sisters are so compassionate that they never had an argument in childhood or later in life when as best friends raising their families just down the road from each other. 

Ruby was so loved. 

Her grandkids Jessica and Joseph were blessed to become her caregivers in her later years. She was much more than a grandmother to her grandkids and helped raise all of them. They affectionately called her Mom. She had a special connection with her great grandchildren.

She was a longtime contributor of Little Creek “items” to the Douglas County Herald, and she loved writing. She complied many stories to go along with a genealogy her daughter Karen complied of the Degase family. She later started a book she called, “My Story.”

She enjoyed keeping in touch with old friends and the new friends she made after she learned how to use Facebook.

She loved her family, friends and Lord passionately. 

She loved quilting and sewing and spent years sharing this love with her family and dear friends of the Nimble Thimble Quilting Club. 

When most teenagers have better things to do, her granddaughter Nik spent a couple summers with her and the Nimble Thimble ladies, learning to piece and hand quilt. 

She loved to garden and continued to can foods out of the three gardens.

Ruby was preceded in death by her parents, husbands, son-in-law Jim Allred, brother-in-law Newt Delp and youngest son Kasey Taber. Special friends Hester Tidwell, Lorene Maloney and Betty Burton (who was extra special because of all the help Betty gave Ruby and Joe and the rest of the family as a Little Creek neighbor) also preceded her in death. 

Ruby is survived by four children and their spouses: son Kevin Taber and wife Donna, daughter Kim Taber, daughter Karen Evans and husband Greg and son Aaron Burr and wife Ruth Taber; son-in-law Bob Weyrauch and daughter-in-law Terry Taber and their family; her grandchildren: Jessica Choat and husband Brady, Joseph Taber, Jody Weyrauch, Ruby Lee Weyrauch, Bobby Weyrauch, Nicole Robertson and wife Ashley, Jake Evans and family, Dylan Evans, Jeff Lee Taber, Aaron Taber and family, Misty Singh and family and Amber Satterfield and family; great grandchild Alli Weyrauch; sisters Jean Frye and husband Jim and family and Betty Jo Delp and family; her husband Joe’s “Taber Clan” she loved as her own; many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins and special friends Audrey Turner and Sue Hartgraves.

This obituary is compiled of the thoughts and writings Ruby left her family. To quote her: “My life and my love is the only legacy I can leave you.” 

Memorial donations can be made to Clark Church or Fannon Cemetery. Cremation services are being conducted by Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Ava. 

Online condolences may be made to www.clinkingbeardfuneralhome.com 

Ozark County Times

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