Ruth Bell Graham: A Woman for All Seasons Quiz

Answer: China

She was born and raised in China to medical missionary parents. Her father was a surgeon in the Presbyterian Hospital there, founded by author Pearl S. Buck's father. She and her siblings were raised there. At age 13 she was sent to a boarding high school in what is now North Korea.

Her family left China in 1937 due to bombing by the Japanese.

Answer: Presbyterian

She maintained a life-long membership in the Presbyterian Church and attended the Montreat Presbyterian Church where she taught Sunday School. When Billy was home he also attended with her. Although he was a Baptist evangelist, she refused to be rebaptized by immersion and signed her letters PTL saying it meant Presbyterians That Last.

Answer: False

Although she remained in Montreat, she was hardly retiring and was considered to be as gifted as her husband. She wrote many books of a spiritual and autobiographical nature. She also wrote poetry and was quite artistic, designing the mountain log home where she and her family resided.

She made her own clothes including her wedding dress and suits. She and her husband were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by former President Clinton; they were the third couple to receive this honor. She was often a strong influence in her husband's career, choices and writings. Ruth Bell Graham authored or co-authored 14 books.

Answer: False

When there was talk of Billy Graham running for President she stated, "If you run I will divorce you and no one will vote for a divorced President." Once when Billy was asked by Lyndon Johnson who he should have for a running mate, Billy's response was, "Ow!", because she kicked him, under the table. He had promised her he would stay away from politics.

Her family seemed to think that her knowledge of the Bible was equal to her husband's. She kept her Bible open at home while she ironed or in the kitchen for constant meditation. She kept the tradition of morning coffee and meditation with the Bible for many years. At her funeral it was noted by her son Franklin that no one realized the impact she had on her husband's career.

Answer: Montreat, NC

Her home was in Little Piney Cove on Black Mountain, on the outskirts of Montreat, NC, a town of about 600 persons. She had a home built from logs and materials she salvaged from mountain cabins. They had lived near her parents but moved when fame took over and tourists started coming around. Montreat means mountain retreat and was originally founded and owned by the Presbyterian Church.

Answer: False

She suffered for many years with osteoarthritis of the spine and neck, precipitated by a 15 foot fall from a tree while trying to hang a swing for her grandchildren. In recent years she was confined to her home and had nursing care in the home. In the end she refused the tube feedings sustaining her at her physician's advice.

She had been an athletic woman and once rode a motorcycle at one of her husband's rallies and risked arrest by yanking a protest sign out of a bystander's hands. She once crawled across the roof of her home with a cup of water in her teeth to dowse her son through an open window, as he had been oversleeping.

Answer: All of these

All five of her children are actively involved in ministry.
Son Franklin heads up the Billy Graham Evangelistic Organization and was picked by US NEWS Max magazine as the next leading evangelist. Franklin's son Will is coming along in his footsteps as an ordained minister. Daughters Anne Graham Lotz and Ruth (Bunny) and Gigi are also involved in leadership and writing. Son Ned is also a minister. The Graham dynasty seems well established.

Answer: college

She met her future husband at Wheaton College where they both attended and graduated. It was a slow courtship that lasted two years. She was the first to declare her love. She had hoped to be an old maid or rather a single missionary in Tibet and prayed to be a martyr when she was young. Her sister Rosa told her she would never be a martyr as her prayers were stronger than Ruth's.

Answer: Montreat

The Montreat service was in her Presbyterian church there and she was actually buried in Charlotte, on the site of the Billy Graham Memorial Library.

Her casket was a simple pine box built by prisoners at Lousiana State Penitentiary in Angola, the total cost of which was about $200. The prisoners' names were burned into one end of the casket. All 19 of her grandchildren were pallbearers or accompanied her casket.

Answer: fun-loving and compassionate

She had a mischievous sense of humor and among all her wonderful traits of character, at her funeral her son Franklin thanked her, "for all that craziness."

At age 14, she rescued a sick Chinese baby boy who had been discarded at the roadside and took him to a hospital where he later died.

She was quite witty. When Billy Graham tried to get her to relinquish her driver's license after an accident, she protested. He commented that nowhere in the Bible does it say that Sarah talked to Abraham like that. Her retort: Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Abraham tried to take away Sarah's camel.