Emma Yarbrough

Emma “Ruth” Yarbrough, 74, of Independence, MO passed away, Sunday, June 8, 2008 at her residence. Services will be 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at the Carson-Speaks Chapel with cremation to follow. The family will greet friends after the services. Ruth was born May 23, 1934 in Warrensburg, MO. Ruthie, as she is known to her friends and family, started life as many others born in the Depression. Her mother died when she was two, and because of poverty was soon separated from her four sisters. Adopted at the age of 5 by Leslie and Maudelle Sellers, she lived all of her life in Independence. She graduated from William Chrisman High School in 1953 and married her first husband, Donald McMilian, in 1954. She bowled for many years on several leagues. She loved to sing and go dancing and has read every book she could find. Ruth was reunited with three of her long-lost sisters after 47 years, and they remained close ever after. She married Roger Yarbrough in 1993. Although sometimes painfully shy, she made a special point to smile and speak to everyone she passed by. She leaves behind: her husband, Roger A. Yarbrough of Independence, MO; a daughter, Elaine McMilian Knoepfle and husband Mark of Merriam, KS; a son, Blake D. McMilian of Cameron, MO; a brother, J.D. Sellers of Springfield, MO; sisters, Marilyn Jameson of Blue Springs, MO; Betty Sturgeon of Batesville, AR, Rosetta Westbay of Mexico MO; Barbara Riffle of Cameron, MO; grandchildren, Suzette Garcia Davis of Colorado Springs, CO, Zachary M. Davis and his wife Andrea of Blue Springs, MO; Kaitlyn O’Hare of Lenexa, KS, Rusty Straw of Independence, MO, and Sarah McMilian of Belton, MO; four great grandsons, Andrew, Isaac, Judah and Joseph Davis of Colorado Springs, CO. She was preceded in death by her parents, Maudelle and Leslie Sellers, her sons, Mark C. McMilian and Brian K. McMilian and her grandson, Benjamin G. Davis. We will all deeply miss her sense of humor and kind, loving spirit, but find comfort in knowing she is reunited with her sweet angels already in Heaven.