Obituary: Ruby Moorehead Mikich

Ruby Moorehead Mikich, 96, passed away from natural causes on Aug. 8, 2021, at The Blake in Oxford. The funeral service will be held at the Memorial Park Funeral Home at 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13 with Randy Bennett officiating. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.

She was born in Bessemer, Alabama, on Feb. 18, 1925, to the late Fannie Lou Hayles and Grover Moorehead. She was raised in Water Valley and graduated from Water Valley High School in 1944. Following her educational training at St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, she served as a Second lieutenant at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida before being pinned First lieutenant at Craig Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. After two years in the Air Force Nursing Corp, she served an additional 23 years with the Veterans Administration Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

During her tenure as an Air Force Nurse, she met her late husband Petty Officer First Class Edward John Mikich. The couple married on Dec. 4, 1954.

She was a member of the Colonial Baptist Church, Women in Military Service for America, and an alumna of Veterans Administration Nurses.

She is survived by her daughter, Deborah Toole and her husband of Oxford; daughter, Carolyn Wellford and her husband of Charlottesville, Virginia; granddaughter, Margaret Toole of Starkville; grandson, Talbert Toole of Oxford; granddaughter, Diana Turner and her husband of Virginia; granddaughter, Nicole Wellford of Memphis; and great-grandson, Brisbane Turner of Virginia.

Memorial contributions in Mikich’s memory may be made to Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County, 935 Farm Rd. Memphis, TN, 38134.