Ruth A. Floyd

Retired Rev. Ruth Ann (Brooks) Floyd, 87, died peacefully on December 28, 2023. Ruth was born in Detroit, Michigan, and moved with her then husband Gary, to Toledo in the late 1950’s, and then to Maumee, where their two children Kendall and Karen were born and raised.

Following her divorce in the mid-1970’s, Ruth returned to the workforce, initially as the church secretary for Maumee United Methodist Church. Encouraged by many mentors there, she started back to college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo in 1979. She then enrolled at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio (METHESCO), and she was ordained with her Master of Divinity Degree in 1982 and an additional Advanced Degree in Christian Education in 1983.

Ruth went on to serve multiple churches in the United Methodist Church West Ohio District, including congregants in Bexley, Mt. Blanchard, Coldwater, Oregon (Christ), and Toledo (Aldersgate). She was especially thankful for the community in Coldwater, where she was involved in a very serious auto accident and the family saw God’s work through the entire community as they helped care for Ruth and raised the funds to install an elevator in a church that was otherwise inaccessible to her as she healed.

Following retirement in 2002, Ruth was so excited to move to Otterbein in Pemberville, OH, where she lived for 21 years, proudly continuing to volunteer in multiple resident and fundraising roles until the increasing effects of dementia caused her to step back from her community. In her final weeks, the Otterbein team made it possible for Ruth to move to Sunset Village in Sylvania, where she was closer to family and where she died in the loving care of both Otterbein and Hospice of Northwest Ohio caregivers.

Ruth was an adventurer, starting with trips with her brother, sister-in-law, and children throughout the US, and then later, solo and group trips to the Holy Land, Romania, the UK, and the South Carolina and Georgia beaches. She was especially proud to have accompanied her daughter in 2011 to Kazakhstan to help bring home her two newly adopted grandchildren.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, Howard and Edith Brooks and sister, Barbara Brooks. She is survived by her brother David and sister-in-law Sharon Brooks, of Chelsea, MI, her children, Kendall Floyd (Jason Davidson), of Toledo, and her daughter Karen Floyd (Glenn Leggett), and her three grandchildren, Alisson, Max, and Sammy Leggett, all of Cincinnati.

The family is forever grateful to the Otterbein community, nurses, and staff and the amazing nurses and staff at Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

Condolences may be shared with the family through the obituary site of the Cremation Society of Toledo (toledocremation.com).

Memorial contributions, if desired may be shared with the Otterbein Senior Life Community (Otterbein.org). A private family service will be held at one of Ruth’s favorite beaches later this year.