Ruth Elizabeth Bailey Gatch

Ruth Elizabeth Bailey Gatch entered into eternal rest on Saturday, February 5, 2011, one week after celebrating her 94^th birthday surrounded by family and friends at the Hospice Care Center of Charleston in Mt. Pleasant, SC.  She was predeceased by her husband of 64 years, Perry Jonathan Gatch, Sr.

Mrs. Gatch was born January 28, 1917 in Charleston, SC, one of five children of Benjamin and Mattie Jeffcoat Bailey.  Due to the loss of her father, she and her two younger siblings became residents of the Charleston Orphan House for four years where her strong friendships evolved into a second family.  She spent most of her adult life with her family in her beloved house on Chestnut Street in the Whipper Barony neighborhood of North Charleston.  She was dedicated to the Whipper Barony Neighborhood Association.  She exercised her green thumb daily and loved visiting with friends and neighbors, collecting seashells on the beach, shopping and crocheting.  

Mrs. Gatch was a truly fun-loving, generous spirit with a relentless sense of humor who was the mother of three surviving children; Perry Jonathan Gatch, Jr. (Jeannette) of Pittsburgh, PA,  Cheryl Gatch McLaurin (Barry) of James Island and James Bailey Gatch (Alice) of Charleston.  She is also survived by a sister, Kathleen Bailey White of North Charleston; seven grandchildren, Terri Gatch of Pittsburgh, PA, Barry Eugene McLaurin, III of Marietta, GA, Lorree Gatch Riley of Charlotte, NC, Annette Gatch Harris of Pittsburgh, PA, Perry Jonathan Gatch, III of Pittsburgh, PA, Donna Michelle Gatch of Charleston and Elizabeth McLaurin Uptegrove of Springboro, OH; and ten great-grandchildren.  Mrs. Gatch was predeceased by a sister, Rose Bailey Sneed and two brothers, Benjamin Bailey and Whitmarsh Seabrook Bailey.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her funeral services in J. HENRY STUHR, INC., NORTH AREA CHAPEL, 2119 Dorchester Road, N. Charleston, Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.  Entombment, Magnolia Cemetery.  The family will receive friends at Stuhr's North Area Chapel Monday between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m.

Memorials may be made to Hospice of Charleston Foundation, 676 Wando Park Boulevard, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464.