Annie Ruth Hale Buck

Annie Ruth Hale Buck, 93, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 in Biloxi. Annie Ruth was born and reared in Meridian, MS. She was a U.S. Army Veteran. She moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1950 and has been a member of the First Baptist Church in Biloxi since then. Annie Ruth Buck served as leader of Girl Scout Troop 32 for eleven years and also a Den Mother of Cub Scout Pack 213 for four years. She was a kindergarten teacher for Moore Community Center in Biloxi, Mississippi from 1957 to 1974 when she retired to open Buck’s Craft Center in the St. Martin community. She was a state treasurer of the Mississippi Association of Children Under Six for several years. She was a charter member of the St. Martin Lions Club and held all elected offices. She served in various offices of the St. Martin Parents and Teachers Association, including President. She was a pillar of the community. Annie Ruth Hale Buck was a devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She loved arts and crafts, especially painting and seemed to be always making or painting something. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gordon Sandlin Buck, Sr.; her parents, James Warren Hale and Annie Lena Bennett Hale; her sisters, Maurice Elizabeth Hale Askew, Leatrice Newana Hale Woods and Vera Jeannette Hale Hill; her brothers, James Robert Hale, Willie Eugene Hale and Aubrey Carr Hale. Survivors include two daughters; Kathy Buck Waites and her husband, Fred Waites, Jr. of Springville, AL and Ann Buck Cothern and her husband, Tommy Cothern of St. Martin; one son, Gordon S. Buck, Jr. and his wife, Jean Horner Buck of Prairieville, LA; five grandchildren, Gregory Buck, Laura Smith, Stacy Waites, Susan Short and Michelle Cothern; and three great grandchildren, Sandlin Short, Griffin Short and Wesleigh Smith. Services will be held Sunday, November 3, 2019 at the Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Homes at 2:00 pm. Visitation will also be at the Ocean Springs Chapel from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. Burial will be following the service at Crestlawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the First Baptist Church, Second Mile Ministry located at 1560 Popps Ferry Road, Biloxi, MS 39532. Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home of Ocean Springs, was honored to help serve this family.