Tarrant County - Obituaries - Ruth Evelyn Champlin Van Zant ******************************************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Cheryl Crump Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ******************************************************************************** Ruth Evelyn Champlin Van Zant 1906 - 2007 Ruth Evelyn Champlin Van Zant, 101, passed away Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007. Graveside service: A private service will be held in Oklahoma, where she will be laid to rest beside her husband. Memorials: Contributions may be made to University Christian Church, 2720 S. University Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76109. When our grandmother was almost 70, she taught her grandchildren how to stand on their heads. She said that, as with many things in life, it was all about balance. She was right. Ruth Evelyn Champlin Van Zant was born in Indian Territory in 1906, in what was to become the state of Oklahoma. The daughter of Louise Selover Champlin and Frederick Charles Champlin, her family were early settlers of Oklahoma. Her father and his two brothers came to Oklahoma for the opportunities the oil business offered and ultimately came to operate many business enterprises in Enid, Okla. Her childhood memories included flying down the stairs of their home on carpet strips with her four other siblings. Because of this story, her great-grandchildren engaged in the same activity, no matter how loud or destructive, in their sleeping bags. She viewed a college education as an opportunity to see the world and in her four years, she matriculated at three different universities in various geographic parts of the country. She attended Maryland College for Women and spent two years there, while her brother was concurrently enrolled at the nearby Naval Academy in Bethesda. The stories of riding the train from Oklahoma to Maryland, with all the windows of the train open due to a lack of any type of ventilation system during that era and arriving with one's white gloves and hat pristine, is a testament to her persistence. Following the graduation of her brother, she transferred to Colorado University in Boulder, where she pledged the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, an institution that was meaningful to her all of her life and one which subsequent generations followed. She then ultimately graduated from Oklahoma University with honors where she majored in English Literature. Her interest in higher education did not end there. After the birth of her first grandchild, she went to graduate school and obtained a master's degree, also with honors, in Spanish studies from Texas Christian University. Although still a little unclear to the family, she also managed to pick up the French language along this intellectual trajectory. She enjoyed travel and her enthusiasm for this began at an early age, with long trips in the eight-passenger Cadillac across the country to see the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and other great national sites. Following graduation from college, her family's intent had been for her to return to Enid and teach elementary school. She, however, had other plans. She took her savings and, with the suitable chaperone for the late 1920s, went to Europe. There she was exposed to the works of Monet, Matisse and Picasso, critical influences in her own artistic career. She traveled across the Soviet Union when the Trans-Siberian Railway first opened for tourism (a feat of courage in and of itself), rode camels in Egypt and paddled in the flat bottom boats of the klongs in Bangkok. At the age of 100, she could remember the "shortcut" to the Prado Museum through the back streets of Madrid. When she could no longer travel, she would travel vicariously with those of us who could. So when you arrived at your hotel in Hong Kong there would be a letter waiting for you from her regaling you with the Hong Kong of four decades ago. She married James Harvey Van Zant and moved to Fort Worth in 1943, where they built together a successful oil and gas business and raised their family. She loved to swim and she swam almost daily until the age of 100. Before her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren could crawl, if she had her way, they would be in the water with her. She instilled in them all a lifelong understanding of the importance of daily physical and intellectual activity. In later years she loved to swim every evening with her neighbor and discuss the content of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She taught us how to listen to the trees, how to waltz, how to make a great meatloaf. She had an appreciation for hard work and the penny. Because of her, we wash and reuse foil and save rubber bands and this was all before recycling was fashionable. Her influence is exemplified in her great-grandson, captain of his middle school water polo team. She had been the one that taught him how to put his face in the water at the age of two. Her laughter lives in her great-grandchildren. Her spirit is present every time a child learns to swim. Survivors: Children, Jeanne Van Zant Sanders (Mrs. Frederick Arthur Sanders) of Fort Worth and James Harvey Van Zant II and his wife, Carolan, of Dublin; six grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. Published in the Star-Telegram on 9/28/2007.