Ruth Ann Spivey Coski

Ruth Ann Spivey Coski of Richmond died at age 69 from pancreatic cancer on June 23rd.
Born in Washington, D.C., she was the adopted daughter of the late Charles Thomas (Tom) Spivey and Ann Lumpkin Spivey of Grafton, Virginia. She is survived by her adoring husband of 45 years, John Matthew Coski, sisters-in-law Joan Coski Moses of Pilot, Virginia, and Sara Coski Birtles (Rupert) of Pettywell, Norfolk, England, six nieces and nephews, many cousins, and countless dear friends.
Raised in York County, Ruth Ann graduated from Tabb High School and with distinction from Mary Washington College (class of 1979), where she met her husband on the college newspaper staff. She spent her career in history museums, as a craft and historical interpreter with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and lead interpreter at the White House of the Confederacy (literally, writing the book on that National Historic Landmark), and library manager, writer, exhibit curator, and special projects coordinator at The Museum of the Confederacy. Revered by her colleagues for her intelligence and wit, she possessed a “remarkable talent for composition and felicity of expression” in speech and in writing that enlivened and entertained her workplaces.
She and John lived the last 36 years of her life in her “village” of Westover Hills. There she became a self-declared “dog fool” and strolled the streets with beloved canine companions Dexter, Eleanor, India, and Portia. The qualities that won so many admirers at work also won the affection of her neighbors, who enriched her life as she enriched theirs.
Ruth Ann also enjoyed discovering and frequenting her “happy places,” including Manteo and the Outer Banks, Cooperstown and the Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes regions of New York, Annapolis, Chicago, and the cities and countryside of England and Wales.
A voracious reader and devoted library patron since childhood, she served on the Friends of the Richmond Public Library board in the 1990s. She was a connoisseur of classic film history and enjoyed meeting others with whom she could discuss favorite Leading Men and Ladies and favorite lines (“Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put on this earth to rise above,” she reminds us).
Ruth Ann often expressed her gratitude to those Angels on Earth – the nurses who cared for her during her treatments, hospitalizations, and hospice. She encourages anyone experiencing unusual abdominal discomfort to learn about and test for pancreatic cancer before it’s too late. She will be interred with her parents at Peninsula Memorial Park (12750 Warwick Blvd., Newport News), at 11 a.m., Wednesday, July 1. A Celebration of Life in Richmond will be announced later. In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial gifts to Richmond SPCA or to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.