Mrs. Ruth (Wilson) Holcomb

Deaconess Ruth Wilson Holcomb was born to the late James Wilson and Rosa Wade Wilson on March
12, 1940 in the Taro Community of Cullen, Virginia. As one of thirteen children, Ruth always shared a
love for family. From an early age she was well known for her special gift of hospitality. Ruth was always
called upon to help with cooking in the family kitchen, especially for special gatherings and holidays. As
a child, Ruth professed the Lord Jesus as her Savior and was baptized at the Saint Andrews Baptist
Church in Cullen. With her faith and love for the Lord at the core of her being, Ruth was very active in
the various auxiliaries around the church.
Educated in the Charlotte County School system, Ruth graduated from Central High School, Charlotte
Court House in 1958 and later went on to complete credits at the Our Lady of Fatima Nursing School in
Buffalo, New York. While Ruth’s path in life never led into professional nursing, she honorably served as
a member and president of the Nurses Unit at the Greater Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in
Newark, New Jersey for well over a decade.
In 1961, Ruth married James Wesley Holcomb of Darlington Heights, Virginia - who she once
commented as being “the most handsome man that she had ever seen”. Establishing their family home in
the Roseville neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey, Ruth and Jimmy’s union was blessed with two sons -
James and Jason. The joy of Ruth’s life was being a wife to her husband, a mother to her sons and
daughters-in-love, and a grandmother to her grandchildren. In the 1970s, the husband and wife were
ordained as Deacon and Deaconess by the late Reverend Melvin McDaniel and faithfully served together
for the next fifty plus years.
After over thirty years in New Jersey, Ruth and Jimmy returned to their beloved homeland of Cullen,
Virginia in 1994 and joined the Triumph Baptist Church in Darlington Heights. Ruth loved her retirement
years and spent many days traveling with family, keeping her grandchildren for the summer, participating
in regular activities in the church, and of course - chit-chatting, canning, cooking, and baking with her
beloved twin sister, the late Naomi Wilson Holland of Cullen.
After eighty-four years of life, love, and laughter, Ruth quietly slipped away to Glory on Tuesday,
September 17, 2024. She leaves to cherish her memory, her husband of sixty-three years, Deacon James
Wesley Holcomb, Sr of Cullen; her “baby sister”, Deaconess Mary Alibeth Holcomb, and husband,
Deacon George Holcomb, Sr. of Washington, DC; son, Jason Winfred Holcomb, Sr., and wife, Dr.
Cassandra Artis Holcomb of Palm Coast, Fl; two grandsons, the Reverend James Wesley Holcomb III of
New Brockton, AL and Jason Winfred Holcomb, Jr. of Hampton, VA; one granddaughter, Brianna Janay
Holcomb, and fiancé, Austin White of Princeton, NJ; daughter-in-love, Anita Holcomb of Orange, NJ;
brother-in-love, Fredrick Holcomb of Hampton, VA; sister-in-loves, Carolyn Dean Wilson of Herndon,
VA; Sybil Holcomb of Hillside, NJ; Shirley Holcomb of Morristown, NJ; Pauline Holcomb of Newark,
NJ; Wyolene Holcomb of Oviedo, FL and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, neighbors, and friends.
Ruth was preceded in death by her oldest son, the late Reverend James Wesley Holcomb, Jr. of Orange,
NJ.

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