Ruby Covington left an indelible mark on the city of Cross Plains as a community advocate, city official and longtime historian. Family and friends are remembering Covington, who passed away on Sept. 28 at the age of 99.
A beloved member of Cross Plains for over 50 years, Covington dedicated her life to the preservation of the history of the communities in eastern Robertson County.
“Anybody around the area that knew much about their own family, or even tried to find out information, I would say a lot of that came from her work,” Covington’s grandson Jay Wright said. “She dedicated half of her life to it.”
In 1995, Covington became an original member of the group that chartered and registered the Cross Plains Heritage Commission, an active non-profit organization dedicated to help preserve the history of the area. She held meetings in her home and collected stories, photos and artifacts related to the businesses, churches, schools and families of the local area.
In 2002, the Doctor’s House, a museum and archives operated by the Heritage Commission, was opened. Covington was a dedicated volunteer at the museum until her passing and she gave guests a tour of the area two days a week.
In September 2019, the Heritage Commission held a special “Ruby Covington Day” which honored her for many years of devotion to keeping up with the community’s history. A special room at the Doctor’s House, named the “Jay and Ruby Covington Family Research Room,” was commemorated on this day complete with a ribbon cutting to honor her and her late husband.
“Her great-granddaughters are 5 and 3, and it was really neat for them to see her room dedicated at the Doctor’s House,” said Carie Wright, Covington’s granddaughter-in-law. “They helped her do the ribbon cutting for the room and she had spent so many hours researching and doing books. I was so glad she got to see that during her life, and it wasn’t something named for her after she passed. My little girls helped her do the ribbon cutting there and it was really prideful that they could see their great-grandmother honored that way.”
After growing up in Trimble, Tenn. and attending Austin Peay Normal School, Covington eventually moved to Springfield after taking a job with the Western Union Telegraph Company during World War II.
Her involvement in Cross Plains began in the fall of 1946 after meeting James “Jay” Covington, who had just returned from serving in the US Navy in the Pacific. He was from Cross Plains and the two married on Dec. 18 of that year.
“I think her love of history really came from her childhood,” said Jay Wright. “She lost her dad when she was 21 and had two younger sisters that she sort of had to step in and fill the shoes as the breadwinner. She raised both of them during the Great Depression. She’s lived through countless wars and how it impacted her life, I would say her passion as a historian really came from all of that.”
The couple eventually bought a home in Cross Plains and soon became part of the community. Covington led a Girl Scout troop and was an active member of Cross Plains Methodist Church. She also became the Cross Plains City Recorder when the city was incorporated in 1973.
Her role as Cross Plains historian originated around this time. She began collecting old family photographs due to an interest in her family’s history. This led her to start collecting information on other families throughout the community.
By the mid-1980s Ruby and Jay were part of Governor Lamar Alexander’s Homecoming ’86 project that encouraged all Tennessee communities to focus on the history of their local area. They then helped establish the Cross Plains Heritage Commission, which planned and organized the Cross Plains Homecoming Celebration in 1986.
During that same year she also helped author Rita Read collect material for the publication of her book “Across the Plains: A History of Cross Plains, Tennessee 1778-1986.”
As part of the Homecoming ’86 events, Kilgore Remembrance was started, a tradition which honors the first settler to the area, Thomas Kilgore, and has continued to this year. Ruby and Jay furnished the original flags that commemorated the life of Kilgore and played a pivotal role in keeping this tradition alive.
Trash and Treasures
In an effort to continue this community spirit, Ruby and Jay organized a local yard sale in 1987, which eventually became the Cross Plains Trash & Treasure’s annual community-wide yard sale. This event still continues every last Friday and Saturday of June and brings together local vendors and treasure hunters from the mid-state to Cross Plains.
“She was definitely a pillar of our community for many years,” Cross Plains Mayor Barry Faulkner said. “Here at the city, we always appreciated her and her husband because she came up with the idea for the Trash & Treasure and she was also instrumental in the Doctor’s House.
“I love giving credit where credit is due. She was always very vocal and attended every city commission meeting. She wanted to be in on the know and always offered positive input. If every citizen had the same desires as her for their community, wherever they lived, how much better that place would be.”
Several years later, Covington began contributing stories with Nancy Bellar and Lorene Lambert for the East Robertson County Historical Quarterly. The trio started the publication in 1994 as part of the Cross Plains Heritage Commission. The quarterly chronicles the history of the people, places and events of Cross Plains, Orlinda, and other surrounding communities. It has published over 100 issues and continues to this day.
“Everything that she did she pretty much put into writing,” Jay Wright added. “A lot of that was in her own words, whether it be obituaries or something about somebody in the community. It’s amazing the stuff that she wrote down and documented. The dates were always so specific, whether it be 70 years ago or up until the day she died. Two or three weeks before she died, she was still as sharp as a tack.
“I always told her that she needed to write a biography and she sort of always took it for granted. She didn’t want the spotlight on her much and she was a very selfless person. She didn’t think that what she had done was that great, but you ask anybody in the community, and they’ll be the first to tell you how special the work she did was.”
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