Ruth Graham, Evangelist's Wife, Dies at 87: WAS HUSBAND's CLOSEST CONFIDANT

Jun 15, 03:34 AM

Current Headlines: By Mike Baker, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Jun. 15--MONTREAT, N.C. -- Ruth Graham, who surrendered dreams of missionary work in Tibet to marry a suitor who became the world's most renowned evangelist, died yesterday. She was 87.

Mrs. Graham died at 5:05 p.m. at her home at Little Piney Cove, surrounded by her husband and their five children, said a statement released by Larry Ross, Billy Graham's spokesman.

"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."

Mrs. Graham had been bedridden for months with degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck and underwent treatment for pneumonia two weeks ago. At her request, and in consultation with her family, she had stopped receiving nutrients through a feeding tube for the last few days, Ross said.

As Mrs. Billy Graham, Ruth Graham could lay claim to being the first lady of evangelical Protestantism, but neither exploited that unique status nor lusted for the limelight.

Behind the scenes, however, she was considered her husband's closest confidant during his spectacular global career, one rivaled only by her father, L. Nelson Bell, until his death in 1973.

Bell, a missionary doctor, headed the Presbyterian hospital in Qingjiang, China, that had been founded by the father of author Pearl Buck.

"Her parents exercised a profound effect upon the development of her character and laid the foundations for who she was," said the couple's youngest daughter, also named Ruth.

"What she witnessed in her family home, she practiced for herself: dependence on God in every circumstance, love for his word, concern for others above self, and an indomitable spirit displayed with a smile."

She met Billy Graham at Wheaton College in Illinois. He said in 1997 memoirs, "If I had not been smitten with love at first sight of Ruth Bell I would certainly have been the exception. Many of the men at Wheaton thought she was stunning."

Billy Graham courted her and managed to coax her away from the foreign missions calling and into marriage after both graduated in 1943.

Mrs. Graham will be buried at the new Billy Graham Library in Charlotte -- a source of apparent discord within the family last year. This week, Billy Graham said he and Ruth had decided "after much prayer and discussion" they would be laid to rest at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway in the library's prayer garden.

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