Mary Ruth Lovelace

2 Corinthians 5:8
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Mary Ruth Lovelace, 68, Elizabethton, went to be with her Lord Sunday, July 6, 2025, at the Johnson City Medical Center. A native of Carter County, she was a daughter of the late J.C. and Irene Morton Nave. She was retired from East Side Elementary School as a cafeteria manager. She loved going to the lake. She was a member of Valley Forge Free Will Baptist Church and the Young at Heart Sunday School Class.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sisters: Joyce Norman, Louise Ingram, Iva Lee Beamer, Charlotte Street, Monnie Williams and Marion Hulse; and her brothers: Cecil Morton, James Leonard Morton and Charles Morton.

Survivors include her husband of 35 years, Terry Lovelace; one daughter, Celena Burgess and husband, Chad; three grandsons, Gavin Chaffin, Andrew Chaffin and wife, Courtney, and Elijah Chaffin; one sister, Carolyn Lyons and husband, Lloyd; and one brother, James Nave. Many nieces and nephews survive.

Graveside service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Lyons Cemetery with Pastors Randy Johnson and Mark Potter.
Active pallbearers will be Gavin Chaffin, Andrew Chaffin, Elijah Chaffin, Chad Burgess, Lloyd Lyons, Nate Nidiffer and Darrell Lyons. Honorary pallbearers will be the Young at Heart Sunday School Class.

Friends may sign their presence at the funeral home Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Condolences may be sent to the family at our website, www.memorialfcelizabethton.com. Family and friends will assemble at the cemetery at 10:50 a.m. Saturday.

Memorial Funeral Chapel is serving the Lovelace family.