YADKINVILLE - Mrs. Ruth Smitherman Crater, 85, of Yadkinville passed away Saturday, July 10, 2004, at Forsyth Medical Center. Mrs. Crater was born Dec. 28, 1918, to the late Luther Lee and Anna Reece Smitherman.

Ruth was well known in Yadkinville. She was retired from James Williams Printing Co. and had worked many years at Heffner's Land of Food. She was a member of Maplewood Baptist Church and a volunteer for Yadkin Christian Ministries.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, John Alfred Crater; two sisters; and three brothers. Surviving are two children, Judy (David) Myers of Yadkinville and John Lee (Nancy Denton) Crater of Alabaster, Ala.; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 13, at Gentry Family Chapel in Yadkinville, with the Rev. Richard Eskew officiating. Burial will follow in Harmony Grove Friends Cemetery. The Crater family will receive friends from 6:30 to 8:30 this evening, July 12, at the funeral home.