Ruth Mae Young

Ruth Mae Young, of Stone Mountain, Ga., passed away on Sunday, August 14, 2022, in Decatur, Ga., after a brief illness. She was 79.

She was born on Saturday, July 17, 1943, to Oscar Conyers and Ruth Rebecca Hubbard Conyers. And those maternity nurses in Rochester, Pa., found her so adorable.

But her mother just shook her head and decided that the nurses’ calling her “Peaches” would never do. So, Mrs. Conyers provided her own given name – as well as the nickname “Cookie” – and took her baby home to her two other surviving children, Larry Eugene and Patti Joy.

In 1961, before her 18th birthday, Ruth headed to Washington, D.C., for an entry-level, federal civil service position upon graduation from Sharon High School in Sharon, Pa.

She would work for the U.S. Government for more than 35 years in other cities, including Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Ruth received numerous accolades for her various positions over the years, and in 1998 she retired from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Cincinnati.

Formerly married to her older sister’s cousin-in-law, Joe Bennett, during the 1960s, Ruth became Mrs. Jimmie Edward Young on August 28, 1987 (which, coincidentally, was the 16^th wedding anniversary of her younger sister) in Hermitage, Pa. Jimmie Young passed away on January 22, 2009, at their Stone Mountain home.

La fashionista Cookie was always just that: a lady of fashion, beginning in the 1960s, when she liked listening to The Supremes, The Beach Boys, and Arthur Prysock. For a time, she added two letters to the end of her given name; “Ruthye” was très chic. Her R & B interests evolved over the decades, with Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and Oleta Adams remaining among her favorites.

A self-proclaimed “business lady,” Ruth was very enterprising, always undertaking some venture. She enjoyed carefully trying her luck at casinos, and she enjoyed line dancing. And Ruth took pride and pleasure in providing gifts and home-cooked meals to those who cared about her.

Having modeled in her younger days, Ruth enjoyed taking pictures as much as being photographed. With her eye behind a camera or camcorder or smartphone, she captured many special family moments -- whether they were during the surprise 80th-birthday celebration of her and her siblings’ “Mummy," during an academic milestone of her son, during one of her daughter's shindigs or modeling shows, or during a grandchild's extracurricular event or graduation ceremony.

Ruth always seemed to be “living her best life.”

Ruth leaves to cherish her memory a daughter, Deva DaNeena Hamilton, and her husband, Flynn Hamilton, Jr., Stone Mountain, Ga.; a son, Daryl Malarry Davidson, Athens, Ohio; three grandchildren, Flynn Nnamdi Hamilton, IV, Faith Nia Hamilton, and Autumn Layia Hamilton; Josiah Aasir Hamilton, the only great-grandchild of his “GiGi”; and their faithful dog, “Spirit,” all Stone Mountain; a stepdaughter, the former Elizabeth Young, and her sons, Dwayne Hawkins, Jr., and David Hawkins; and a stepson, Rickey Young, and his son, Kodi.

Ruth is also survived by three siblings, Larry Conyers, Masury, Ohio; Patti Wallace, Youngstown, Ohio; and Gail Ivey, Farrell, Pa.; by two very special nephews, Daniel Conyers, Houston, and Damon Wallace, Youngstown; by Ruth’s stepsister, Bertha Thomas; by a former pet, Welsh corgi “Diamond”; and by a host of friends and other relatives.

Besides her father, Oscar Conyers, Ruth was also preceded in death by her mother and stepfather, Ruth Rebecca and Hugh Clyde Askerneese; by two brothers, including infant Jan Edward Conyers; by an infant sister, Carole Valetta Conyers; by an older, stillborn sister, who had also been named "Ruth Conyers"; by a very special maternal aunt, Mrs. Eleanor Hubbard Martin, and her husband, Samuel Martin; by a step-granddaughter, Shaela Hawkins; and by stepsisters Christiana Askerneese and Gertrude Berryman.

Ruth was also predeceased by a niece, three nephews, and two grand-nephews.

Per her wishes, Ruth was cremated; and that service was provided by Colonial Cremation Service, Tucker, Ga. Her family extends special thanks to the intensive care staff at Emory Decatur Hospital, Decatur, Ga.