Annie Ruth Whiteside

Annie Ruth Whiteside got her heavenly wings on February 14, 2025, when she was 94 years old.

She was born on February 9, 1931, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to the late Susanna and William Cloud. She attended the public schools of Spartanburg County.

She became the “Femme a charge” (woman in charge) of the Cloud clan matriarch Susanna Cloud, along with her six siblings, who made the migration from the South to New York in 1956. She and some of the other siblings decided to make Newburgh their home.

She worked at the Vickie Clothing Factory for several years to ensure that the Cloud clan matriarch was well taken care of and took care of her until Susanna Cloud’s death on January 1, 1970.

Affectionately known as “Aunt Ruth,” she enjoyed gospel music and an occasional game of spades and bid whist. She was a member of Mt. Carmel Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, under Bishop GW Johnson’s pastorship. To fulfill some of her lifelong dreams, she visited Mexico, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas.

Aunt Ruth had only one biological child, Darrin Keith, who was her heart, but she was a “mother hen” to several of her nephews and nieces.

She was pre-deceased by five of her sisters, Martha Troy, Magdalene Smith, Rosa Lee Miller, Anna Louise Cooper, and Loretta Montgomery, and one brother, David Cloud. She leaves to mourn her loving spirit, one son, Darrin Keith Whiteside of Killeen, Texas, and one sister, Joyce “Ibetia” Cloud of Newburgh, New York, one grandchild, Brittany Clark of Asheville, North Carolina, one great-granddaughter, Elise and one great-grandson Chase, both of Asheville, NC, and a host of other grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends.