Mrs. Mattie Ruth Thompson Ellerbee

Mattie Ruth Thompson Ellerbee, who brought up her three sons in Thomaston, Warner Robins, Byron and Fort Valley, died Saturday, May 18th, 2019 at Pine Pointe Hospice in Macon. She was 93. She will be laid to rest beside her husband on Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 at 12:00 PM at Hendricks Baptist Church in the small Crest community outside of Thomaston. Rev. Bob Wilson will officiate, and burial will follow in the church cemetery. The family of Mrs. Ellerbee will receive friends at the church one hour prior to the service. Ruth was born in Upson County to Jesse Benjamin (J.B.) and Effie Eva Lou Ellington Thompson Sr. on April 24, 1926, on the heels of World War I and a few years before the nation’s economic collapse of 1929. She spent her early years working with the family on her dad’s farm on Waller Road. She married Howard F. Ellerbee on Dec. 1, 1946, when he returned home to Crest after serving in the European Theater in World War II. He passed away on Dec. 26, 1975. She is survived by sons Tony (June), who lives in Fort Valley, and Tim (Tammie) and Todd, who live in Byron; three grandsons, Lacy (Kim), Jackson (Jessica) and Seth; three great grandchildren – Jonah, Emmie and Jack Henry – and two brothers, Hubert and Bill Thompson. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Tim’s identical twin Terry, sisters Kathleen Riley and Mildred Jones and brother Jesse Thompson. Ruth spent the early years of marriage watching her husband play baseball against small-town mill teams near Thomaston, then spent a large part of her life watching her boys play softball and basketball across the state. She was an avid Georgia Tech fan. In the 1980s and ‘90s, she attended as many Tech football and basketball games as possible. Highlights came during the 1984 and ’85 seasons, when she saw Tech defeat Georgia in Athens and Clemson at Clemson. She also attended the Southeast Regional in the New Orleans Superdome in 1990, when her basketball Jackets defeated Michigan State and Minnesota to advance to the Final Four. She was a member of Trinity Baptist Church and also a member of the Happy Hearts of Fellowship Baptist Church. Memorial contributions may be made to Trinity Baptist Church, 410 South Church Street, Thomaston, GA 30286, or the Hendricks Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, c/o Kay Darsey, 11 Bussey Rd., Thomaston, GA 30286. Fletcher-Day Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Condolences and remembrances may be expressed at www.fletcherdayfuneralhome.com