Mrs. Anna Ruth Lee Holder, 85, went home to be with her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, on Sunday, August 10, 2014, peacefully in her home after battling cancer. Mrs. Holder spent her life serving her God, her family, her church, and her community. Her life touched everyone with whom she came in contact. Her sweet, genuine spirit left even those who were merely brief acquaintances with the feeling that they were loved and important to her. The family will receive friends at Berean Baptist Church on Tuesday, August 12, 2014, between 6 and 8 p.m. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, at 1 p.m., at the church. The burial service will follow at Cross Creek Cemetery. Born the youngest of four children in Fayetteville, on November 9, 1928, Anna Ruth Lee was the daughter of J. Patrick Lee and Katie Ivey. After high school graduation, she received degrees from Bob Jones and East Carolina University. Upon graduation, Ruth taught for 25 years as an elementary school teacher. She taught Bible in the Florida public school system, later returning to North Carolina to teach in Hope Mills, where she met the man with whom she would spend her life, Wade H. Holder, Jr., her husband of forty-nine years. Wade and Ruth were married on December 28, 1961. When the Lord blessed the couple with their first child, Ruth focused her attention at home as a wife and mother. Later, when her children were older, Mrs. Holder returned to teaching at Berean Baptist Academy until retiring in 1989. Ruth influenced the lives of countless children as she poured her love and her love for her Lord into their lives. From nearly the inception of Berean, Ruth was a faithful member for forty-five years. For twenty-six years, Ruth faithfully helped her husband as he taught the Towers West Retirement Home Sunday school class. Ruth would make breakfast each Sunday, along with birthday cakes to celebrate special days with the residents. Ruth made her highest calling in life being a servant to others. She became caregiver to her parents, sisters, sister-in-law, and husband. She visited not only family whom she knew and loved, but also strangers in various rest homes, taking bananas and treats to the residents while sharing the gospel with them. Ruth was never ashamed of her Savior. She held weekly flannel graph Bible lessons at her home for the neighborhood children. Every goodie bag on Halloween contained a children's gospel tract, and she would rarely ever be in a hospital room without a Gideon's nurse's New Testament to hand out to her doctors and nurses. She knew her Bible and her Lord, and she openly and boldly proclaimed His goodness to all. Ruth is survived by two daughters, Karen Holder Guinn and her husband David of Zebulon, and Sharon Holder Finley and her husband Ken of Timberlake; one sister, Frances Macomber of Hope Mills; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Wade Hampton Holder, Jr.; her son, Wade Hampton Holder, III; one sister, Iris Mann; and one brother, William Lee. All who knew Ruth knew her as a prayer warrior. If a need was brought to her attention, she brought it to God's attention. She used her words to encourage and uplift with never an unkind word to anyone. She often quoted from Deuteronomy 33: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." It was upon those arms in which she put her trust for her need of salvation and for every daily need. Her final prayer was that all whom she knew would also find that same peace she had found in those everlasting arms. The family asks that flowers be sent to the church or donations be made online or at Berean to The Gideons International in honor of Ruth's life of service to her Savior. Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 1 p.m. at Berean Baptist Church. Burial to follow in Cross Creek Cemetery Visitation- 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at Berean Baptist Church.