Ruth E. Harmon James

When God orders your steps, you will meet His requirements. Ruth Elizabeth Harmon James, also known as Lady Ruth, did, and she was accepted into His Kingdom in the early morning hours of Thursday, June 4, 2026. Ruth had lived her life to the fullest and was ready when she was called Home. The third child of the late Reverend Isaac Schuman Harmon, Jr., and Mary Hammond Speaks Harmon McGuire, Ruth was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 23, 1939. Having arrived after her two brothers, the late Isaac Schuman Harmon III, former Baltimore City Public School Administrator, and David Alfred Harmon, former Pastor of St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Detroit, Michigan, Ruth was welcomed as a little Princess. Ruth was a fifth-generation member of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. Her father was assigned to pastor Bethel A.M.E. Church, at 40 Boundary Avenue in Onancock on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where the family lived until his death in April 1941. When Ruth’s father died, her mother moved her young family back to Baltimore. Ruth matriculated through Baltimore City Public Schools and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in the class of 1957. She went on to Coppin State Teachers College, where she helped to put herself through school by working part-time jobs. Ruth worked at the concession stand at the Harlem Theater on weekends, where she met her future husband, Benjamin Franklin James, a Marine Corps veteran. Ruth worked as an administrative clerk at the Princess Shop, a women’s clothing store on Light Street. Ruth was a role model for her younger cousins, and she got her cousin, Nancy Speaks Woodland, a job there as a keypunch operator. It was from her experience at the Princess Shop that Ruth honed her unique eye for fashion. Ruth was a third-generation member of Payne Memorial A.M.E. Church, where her grandmother and mother served as stewardesses. Ruth married Ben at Payne Memorial in 1958, and from their union came Mary Lynette and Adrienne Louise. She continued attending Coppin through the early years of her marriage and graduated in 1963 with a degree in Elementary Education. Upon graduating, Ruth joined her brothers, who were teaching in Cherry Hill. She and Isaac taught at Cherry Hill Elementary School 159, and David taught at Patapsco Elementary School 163. Ruth was a long-term substitute in Cherry Hill for one year. She was then appointed to Curtis Bay Elementary School, where she taught for 29 years. Ruth retired from Baltimore City Public Schools after 10 years at the William Paca Elementary School, where she served as the Librarian. When Ben died in 1974, Ruth was determined to keep her girls grounded in God and family and on a steady course with their education. Ruth searched for a church that would spiritually nourish the girls and joined Bethel A.M.E. Church in 1980, where she was an active worshipper until she passed. You rarely saw Ruth go anywhere without her girls. She managed to have very special, individual relationships with Mary and Adrienne. Ruth always put the well-being of her daughters above her own. The girls have demonstrated their love and appreciation for all of Ruth’s sacrifices through the years, especially over the nine weeks of her incapacitation. Ruth leaves to mourn their loss, daughters, Mary James Press (Kevin, Sr.), and Adrienne James Morrow, Ed.D.; grandsons, Kevin Press and Keon Press (fiancé Darian Johnson); great-grandson, Dawson Press; sister, Betty McGuire Howze; sister-in-law, Bette Kearney Harmon; brother-in-law, Samuel Howze; nephews, Isaac Schuman Harmon IV, David Phillip Harmon (Marilyn), Jaeson Benjamin Howze, Erick Joseph Howze, and Samuel Adam Howze, Jr.; niece, Kimberly Tracey Howze; great-nephew, Isaac Schuman Harmon V; great-nieces, Tiffany Christina Harmon, Alexandra Elizabeth Harmon, Kaeleigh Allyse Harmon, and Chelsea Elizabeth Harmon; a very dear best friend, Angela Tolson, Ed.D., and a host of other family members, church family members, and friends.

Tributes

Ruth E. Harmon James

January 23, 1939 - June 4, 2026