Ruth Bell Graham |
Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of evangelist Billy Graham, died today at the age of 87, according to a family spokesman.
After battling pneumonia, she slipped into a coma yesterday at the couple's home in Montreat, N.C., where she was surrounded by her husband and five children. Spokesman Larry Ross said she died at 5:05 p.m. Eastern time.
"Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team," Billy Graham said in a statement. "No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.
"I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we've had in the mountains together. We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven."
Billy Graham issued a statement yesterday saying he and his wife, who turned 87 Sunday, had decided to be buried next to each other at the Billy Graham Library in Billy Graham's hometown of Charlotte.
"We have held this decision privately and only decided to announce it now that she is close to going home to heaven," Billy Graham said. "Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side. I am more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College."
Graham, 88, said "Ruth and I appreciate, more than we can express, the prayers and letters of encouragement we have received from people across the country and around the world."
"Our entire family has been home in recent days and it has meant so much to have them at our side during this time," he said. "We love each one of them dearly and thank God for them."
In December, the Washington Post reported the family was divided over the Grahams' burial place, indicating Ruth objected to a site at the museum in Charlotte that was favored by son Franklin. Billy Graham responded to the story, stating he and Ruth would make the decision together privately.
Ruth had been bedridden at home, suffering from degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck.
The daughter of missionary doctor L. Nelson Bell, she was born in 1920 in Qingjiang, China, where her father directed the Presbyterian hospital founded by the father of author Pearl Buck. She grew up in China and at age 13 went to boarding school for three years in Pyongyang, presently North Korea.
She met Billy Graham while they were students at Wheaton College, an evangelical liberal arts school near Chicago.
Ruth initially thought she was called to become a missionary but after struggling in prayer over her future, she married Billy in Montreat Aug. 13, 1943.
The couple eventually moved to Montreat, in the mountains of western North Carolina, to be near her parents while Billy spent many days on the road. She raised five children: daughters, Virginia, Anne Morrow and Ruth Bell; and sons Nelson Edman and William Franklin III, who has taken over leadership of his father's ministry, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Ruth authored or coauthored 14 books, including "Prodigals and Those Who Love Them," "Sitting by My Laughing Fire," and "Legacy of a Pack Rat."