Ruth Martin Deus

Ruth Whitmell Martin Deus, a centenarian born on April 23, 1925, originally from Thibodaux and most recently residing in Mandeville, Louisiana, passed away at sunrise on a beautiful, crisp Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 2025. She is survived by her four children: Roderick Deus and his wife, Julia; Dr. Frank Deus and his wife, Nancy; Karin DeNisco and her husband, Scott; and Pamela Noya and her husband, Kirk. She also leaves behind eight grandchildren—Jennifer Deus Delp, Austin Deus, Jackson Deus, Harrison Deus, Scott Hamilton, Jamie Hamilton, Shelby White, and Grant White—and two great-grandchildren, Xander Delp and Asher Hamilton. She is also survived by her sister, Marion Martin Segger, along with many nieces and nephews.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Frank Nils Siso Deus, Sr., of New York City; her parents, Virginia Lanier Martin of Donaldsonville and William Littlejohn Martin of Napoleonville, Louisiana; and her sister, Virginia Carmouche Gayle of Lake Charles. Ruth attended Thibodaux High School, graduating as Co-valedictorian in 1941. She began her studies at Louisiana State University before entering nurses’ training at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans. She graduated as a registered nurse and Valedictorian in March 1946. Ruth worked as Assistant Head Nurse at Touro and was a member of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church until age twenty-two, when she joined the U.S. Navy.

Her naval career spanned eight years, from August 1947 to November 1955, when she retired as a Full Lieutenant to marry. Her service included duty stations at Long Beach Naval Hospital; Family Hospital in Coronado, CA – NAS North Island; Mare Island; and the U.S. Naval Hospital Ship Benevolence, of which she was a survivor when it sank in San Francisco Bay on August 25, 1950. She also served at the U.S. Naval Hospitals in Pensacola, Florida, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at the NAS Patuxent River Base Hospital in Maryland. 

While stationed in Maryland, Ruth met her future husband, Frank, a Navy airman and ballroom dance instructor, at a local dance school. They shared fifty-two years of loving marriage until his passing in September 2007. Ruth enjoyed a full and joyful life raising their four children in Lafayette, Louisiana, where she also volunteered at University Medical Center. She was a dedicated member of Grace Presbyterian Church where she taught Sunday and Bible School. After Frank’s death, she moved to Mandeville in 2008 to be closer to family and was a member of New Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Ruth’s life was defined by faith, service, and joy—qualities she carried throughout her hundred years. She was an avid family historian with extensive knowledge and beloved stories of her ancestors. She loved traveling, especially through the American West in her convertible during her Navy years, and she treasured several trips abroad with her husband and daughters. Ruth loved spending summer weeks with her sisters, Gin and Minnie – especially in Steamboat, Colorado, where they played games, and at Jamaica Beach in Galveston, Texas, where they floated on inner tubes, laughing and screaming with each breaking wave. She also enjoyed birdwatching, possessed a keen knowledge of constellations, and loved playing games, particularly bridge, backgammon, and cribbage.

Mrs. Deus was a charter member of The Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, dedicated to Women in Military Service for America. In 2020, the Navy Nurse Corps Oral History Program Committee honored her by naming a service puppy through the Warrior Canine Connection in Boyds, Maryland—a yellow lab called Rue, after Ruth’s childhood nickname. Rue now serves as a Military Family Support Dog.

A memorial service will be held at New Covenant Presbyterian Church in

Mandeville, Louisiana, on a date to be determined.