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2020 SPECIAL SESSION I

20200009D
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 501
Offered August 18, 2020
Prefiled August 10, 2020
Commending Ruth Stokes Boatwright.
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Patron-- Ware
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WHEREAS, there arise within many places of the Commonwealth, not least within the hamlets and counties of the great Southside, individuals of deep roots who embody the virtues and best traditions of their communities and by them enrich the civic life of their neighbors and fellow citizens; and

WHEREAS, in Powhatan County, such an individual and such a citizen is Ruth Stokes Boatwright; and

WHEREAS, the daughter of William Ivy and Eva Denoon Stokes, Ruth (née Stokes) Boatwright was born in her parents’ home on Trenholm Road and has spent the entirety of her 83 years in the Trenholm community; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stokes graduated from Powhatan High School in 1955, where she played on the girls’ basketball team, and to this day she “loves basketball and doesn’t miss a game when her granddaughter, Charlie, is playing,” in the words of her daughter Amy Boatwright Potter; and

WHEREAS, shortly after high school, at a dance at Sunnyside, Ruth Stokes met Freddie Boatwright, with whom she would be married only 66 days later; in May 2020, the couple commemorated their 64th wedding anniversary; and

WHEREAS, in 1962, Ruth Boatwright began working at a local insurance agency, where she subsequently became an equal partner in 1981, and, though semi-retired in 2007, she still works three days a week in the firm of Richardson-Harris-Boatwright Insurance Agency, Inc.; and

WHEREAS, a devoted wife, mother, and businesswoman, Ruth Boatwright has also extended her devotion to Muddy Creek Baptist Church, in whose fellowship she has been a member her entire life, and to numerous civic associations of benefit to the people of Powhatan; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright has long been a member and board member of the Powhatan Chamber of Commerce, serving one term as president of the organization; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright helped to organize the 200th anniversary celebration of Powhatan in 1977; and

WHEREAS, throughout the 1980s, Ruth Boatwright served on the board of Huguenot Academy; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright has supported Powhatan’s Relay for Life since its inception in 1995 and continues to co-chair her team and raise funds for the nonprofit benefiting the American Cancer Society; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright worked on the organizational committee that conceived and inaugurated the Festival of the Grape, first held in 2002 and now the largest annual public gathering in Powhatan; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright was among several citizens who were instrumental in saving from destruction the Powhatan Village Building, which has long since become a principal meeting place for business and civic groups and the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright was instrumental, too, in saving and especially in later refurbishing the Powhatan War Memorial Building; and

WHEREAS, again in the words of her daughter, Amy Boatwright Potter, Ruth Boatwright “loves veterans more than anything and has been honoring them for 27 years now”; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright first organized a “Veterans Musical Show” at Muddy Creek Baptist Church in 1993; the Powhatan Veterans Musical Show became so popular that it was moved in 1995 to the Village Building and later to the much larger auditorium of Powhatan High School; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright has for many years curated a collection of photographs of Powhatan’s veterans, now numbering over 700 pictures that are used to decorate the “Veterans Musical Show” and to honor veterans in Powhatan Today; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright expanded her programs for veterans and the community by establishing an annual program on Courthouse Square that has continued into a second decade; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright, again to honor veterans, organizes each month a “World War Round Table” meeting, securing a guest speaker and ensuring that guests are provided refreshments; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright collected local stories and worked with proofreaders to prepare and publish the Powhatan County Heritage Book; and

WHEREAS, for more than 20 years, Ruth Boatwright organized the National Day of Prayer program in Powhatan, arranging for numerous individuals to offer prayers for local and national governments, schools, and children of the community; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Boatwright, though in her ninth decade of a joyful life of faith, love, and service, has mastered the operations of Facebook, regularly informing a large online audience of those in Powhatan in need of prayer; and

WHEREAS, Ruth and Freddie Boatwright have relished every opportunity to share their love and wisdom with their three children, Leslie Boatwright Lingenfelser, Dennis Warren Boatwright, and Amy Boatwright Potter; six grandchildren, Ladonna Sewell, Brandon Scott Lingenfelser, Jordan Blake Lingenfelser, Emily Grace Boatwright, William Fredrick Potter, and Ivy Charles Potter; and five great-grandchildren, Mason, Tyler, Reed, Sophia, and Callen; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, that Ruth Stokes Boatwright hereby be commended for a life of exemplary devotion to her family, her church, her community, and her business; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Ruth Stokes Boatwright as an expression of the House of Delegates’ admiration for a long and admirable life lived in faith, love, and service to the people of Powhatan.