Our beloved mother and grandmother, Ruth Lynell Sterling, went to her heavenly home on September 15, 2024. Many know her as Sister Nell Sterling. She was 86 years old.
Nell was born on June 1, 1938 to her mother Werner Ruth, and father Ike Elmore Jr. in Westlake, LA. She is preceded in death by her mother Werner Ruth, her father Ike Elmore Jr., her seven siblings Jane, Judith, Sharon, David Lee, Tommy, Glenn, and Bogie Elmore. Her late husband, Harvey Lee Sterling, and her four children, Christina Lynn Sterling, Roger Wade Sharpless, Edna Ruth Midkiff, and Christine Lee Sterling. She is survived in death by her 6 children, Georgette Cole of Vidor, TX, Sherry VanWinkle and her husband Eddie VanWinkle of Silsbee, TX, Patricia Molina and her husband Mike Molina of Willis, TX, Rhonda Sharpless of Conroe, TX, Naomi Parker of Orange, Tx, and Judith Mendoza and her husband Oscar Mendoza of Orange, TX.
Nell was a life-long resident of Orange, TX. She loved Jesus and her family with everything that she had. She enjoyed spending time with her family, attending church and praising God, fishing the Sabine River with her late husband Harvey, and shopping. She never met a pair of shoes or handbag that she didn’t like.
Our hearts are heavy with the passing of our matriarch and the last of her generation but hers is light in Christ. We will miss her bible lessons, prayer, hymns, lectures, phone calls, hugs, but most of all, her laughter.
There will be a visitation at Claybar Funeral Home on Friday, September 20, 2024 from 5-7 pm. A funeral service to honor Ruth Lynell Sterling’s life will be held September 21, 2024 at 1 pm at Pinehurst Pentecostal Church in Orange, TX, officiated by Bishop W. Smith and Rev Robert Edwards of The True Faith Tabernacle in Orange, TX.