Ruby (Murrell) Provance was born January 27, 1932, in Sikeston, MO, the daughter of the late John and Lillian (Robertson) Murrell. She died on Friday, May 26, 2023, at Dayton Hospice in Ohio. She was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers and four sisters; her husband, the Reverend Merlin Eugene Provance; their daughter, Tamara Sue Bolender and son, Mike Provance.
She leaves behind grandsons Chad and Chase Bolender; son-in-law, Ronald Bolender, Mt. Vernon, OH; and great granddaughters, Imogen, Tamara, Charlotte, and Madeline, Miamisburg, OH.
Ruby faithfully served with her late husband of nearly 56 years over some 38 years in fulltime ministry for the Church of the Nazarene with pastorates in IL, WV, OH, and TN; as well as the latter 12 years he spent as an associate pastor at First Church of the Nazarene in South Charleston.
She was prominent in the development of the Davis Creek Nazarene Day Care Center; and directed the center four years during their 19-year ministry at Davis Creek. She also directed the Children’s Department at that church. She was an avid student of the Bible and taught adult Sunday School classes some 25 years; however, the children always remained her favorite people.
Ruby provided significant assistance to the late Dr. Mary Lee Daugherty in founding and establishing the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center (AMERC), a specialized training center for seminary students who plan to do ministry in the Appalachian region and other small town rural communities across the nation and abroad. AMERC first began in Charleston, WV and later was moved to Berea, KY. Ruby and Merlin moved to Berea to assist with the moving of the training center where they lived three years before returning to Charleston.
She attended Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN where she met her late husband, and also attended Marshall University/the Logan Branch while they served that church. Ruby was the co-author with the late Dr. Mary Lee Daugherty of the book, The AMERC Story; an Adventure in Contextualized Theological Education, a book published in 2003 and detailing the first 17-year history of the organization.
A service is planned for 11:00 a.m., Monday, June 5, 2023, at Graceland Memorial Park, South Charleston. Friends may visit with the family beginning at 10:30 until the time of the service.
In lieu of flowers, friends are invited to make a donation the “Bolender Endowed Scholarship” (in honor of her deceased daughter Tamara Bolender). Checks should be made payable to “Mount Vernon Nazarene University” and mailed to Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Development Office, 800 Martinsburg Road, Mount Vernon, Ohio 43050. Note on check that the funds are to be applied to the “Bolender Endowed Scholarship in memory of Ruby Provance.