Ruth Shafer Ketcham, 75, of Texas City, Texas, died Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1999, after a short illness. Prior to moving to Texas in 1997, she had been a longtime resident of Portsmouth and Chesapeake. A native of Norfolk County, she was a member of Cradock Baptist Church and a volunteer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. She was retired from the city of Chesapeake Building Inspections Office. She was the daughter of the late Ruth Gilbert and Clyde Yocum Shafer. She is survived and loved by her two sons, Robert S. Ketcham and wife, Janette, of League City, Texas, and Stephen A. Ketcham and wife, Karla, of Hanover, N.H.; and four grandchildren, Katie and Dylan Ketcham and Caroline and Suzanne Ketcham. Services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Sturtevant Funeral Home on Portsmouth Blvd. Burial will follow at Olive Branch Cemetery. Dr. David Denny of Cradock Baptist Church will conduct the services. Visitation will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Cradock Baptist Church or to a charity of your choice.

Virginian-Pilot, Nov. 27, 1999
 

I noticed you have my mother, Ruth Shafer (listed as Shaffer) listed with the deceased Admirals for the Class of 1942. You are asking for further information. She passed away in 1999, having moved to Texas where I could better care for her in 1997. Until then, she had lived in Cradock, Brentwood and at One Crawford Parkway and had attended college at Mary Washington in Fredericksburg Thanks,

Bob Ketcham (Robert Shafer Ketcham)
Nassau Bay, TX