Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, at Greenwood Delta Funeral Home for Mrs. Ruby Jewell Farmer, 88, who died on Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Greenwood with her family by her side. Dr. Jim Phillips officiated. Visitation was held one hour prior to the service on Monday, Nov. 24, at the funeral home.
Jewell was born July 24, 1937, the daughter of the late William Hugh and the late Mary Cotten Eubanks in Indianola. She is the oldest of six girls who grew up in the Mississippi Delta. She attended Greenwood High School where she met Shelby Sudduth whom she married and had one son with, Roy Michael, who was seven when Shelby was killed in an automobile accident.
Two years after Shelby’s death, God called her to full time service prompting Jewell to move to Vicksburg to begin her career in the Salvation Army. There she was a youth counselor, secretary and bookkeeper. A year later, she moved to Natchez in the same position. She later entered the school for officers’ training in Atlanta, Ga. Jewell was commissioned as an officer with the Salvation Army and ordained to the ministry and transferred to Miami, Fla. She served in Sebring, Sarasota, Lakeland and finally Tampa. During this time, she met her husband, Vennoy Farmer.
Twenty years as Candidates’ Secretary at the Florida Divisional Headquarters gave her the opportunity to teach at the National Soldiers’ Seminary in Colorado Springs, Colo., for three years. She then taught at the school for Officers’ training and conducted training seminars in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, and later led young adults on mission trips for 11 years.
In 2004, Jewell returned home to the Delta where she became an avid Explorer, which is an in-depth Bible Study. She began as a student and later became a teacher. She was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and served on their board.
In addition to her parents, her two husbands, Roy Shelby Sudduth and Vennoy Farmer; her son, Roy Michael Sudduth; two sisters, Alma Ferguson and Dean Killebrew; one stepson, Dick Farmer, and stepdaughter, Emily Lanier, preceded Jewell in death.
Survivors include, three sisters, Nell Homeyer of Memphis, Tenn., Pat Jones of Greenwood and Reba Burgess of Memphis, Tenn., one stepson, Gary Farmer, and several nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests the memorials be directed to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Online condolences can be expressed to the family at www.greenwooddeltafh.com
Greenwood Delta Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
