Ruth Brewer Gaston Randolph

Ruth died on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026. She was born on October 25, 1928, in (then very rural) Lake, Mississippi, to Albert L. Brewer and Mary Davis Brewer. After the outbreak of WWII, her father moved the family to Pascagoula, MS to work in the shipyards and earn a decent living. While there Ruth met her first husband and they had their first child, a son Marbut G. Gaston, Jr., born on August 27, 1945. They moved to Nashville, TN shortly after the end of WWII. Her husband had an opportunity to start a Goodyear Tire franchise in Nashville but the agent/broker (Pirtle-Woodard Realty Co) who was helping them buy their first home persuaded him to become a real estate agent with his firm.

After the birth of their second child, a son Harper Gaston on April 2,1948, Ruth became a real estate agent and with her husband formed Gaston Realty Co., a high-profile company at that time. When she and her husband divorced in 1956, Ruth became the first woman in Nashville (maybe Tennessee) to be the Principal Broker and owner of her own real estate firm, Sales Realty Co, with six real estate agents in an office in downtown Nashville which was almost exclusively filled with men. That firm grew to over 12-agents by the early 60’s.

In 1962, Ruth married Ray Randolph, a 40-year-old bachelor. An amazingly wonderful man and a marvelous stepfather, Ray instinctively loved and accepted Ruth’s sons (even if they were two teenage boys!). In 1964. Ruth and Ray formed Randolph Company Realtors merging Sales Realty into it. Ruth was a tenacious worker creating a very successful real estate business and being respected by everyone in her industry. She set the example and trained her agents with almost military precision. Many of her agents would go on to form their own successful companies or other successful real estate businesses. When she died, she was still a licensed TN real estate Broker/agent and had been for 78- years, making her probably one of the longest continually licensed real estate agents in Tennessee. She was a pioneer in an industry that was dominated by men in the 50’s but she paved the way for all the women who have followed.

Ruth loved people, and that is probably the main reason she was such a successful real estate person. She helped countless people buy their first home, worked across racial lines in the 50’s and 60’s, and helped so very many Viet Nam refugees in the 70’s, middle eastern and African refugees in the 80’s and 90’s and Burmese refugees in early 2000’s buy their first homes in America.

Ruth was a member of Belmont Methodist Church from 1945 to 1962, when she then joined her
husband’s church, Trinity Presbyterian Church. She was ordained an Elder there in the 60’s, one of the first women so ordained. In 1985, she returned to Belmont United Methodist Church (with Ray), and both were members of Belmont at the time of their deaths (Ray on February 20, 2014).

Ruth and Ray were tireless missionaries while at Belmont. They were part of at least 5-mission trips to Malawi, Africa, over a dozen mission trips to St. Vincent, several trips to areas destroyed by Katrina in 2005, and countless other gestures of Christian charity. They would walk a Green Hills route every morning and evening where they would collect lost coins/money during their walks and every Christmas they would give that collection to a charity or a person in need.

She is predeceased by her husband and the love of her life, Ray Randolph, her parents, Albert L. Brewer and Mary Davis Brewer Young both of Nashville at their deaths, a brother James H. Brewer (Elizabeth) of Nashville, and a sister Marie Brewer Parker Noggle of Yorba Linda, CA. She is survived by her two sons both of Nashville, Marbut G. Gaston, Jr. (Kathy) and Dr. Harper Gaston (Nona), four grandchildren, Dr. R. Glenn Gaston (Krissa) of Charlotte, NC, Tiffany Gaston Dale (Jackson), Lindsey Gaston Murrell (Nathan) and Margot Gaston Dickman (Philip) all of Nashville and 12 great-grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life is scheduled at Belmont United Methodist Church (2007 Acklen Av, Nashville 37212) on Saturday, April 25, 2026, at 10.00am, with visitation and a reception following the service in Parker Hall. Officiants are Bishop Joe E. Pennel, Rev. Linda Johnson, Pastor Paul Purdue, Senior Associate Pastor Heather Harriss, and Gayle Sullivan, organist.

In lieu of flowers (even though Ruth loved them sooo… much) memorial contributions may be made to Belmont United Methodist Church (P. O. Box 120098, Nashville, 37215, 615-383-0832 contactus@belmontumc.org), Fifty Forward (174 Rains Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203,
info@fiftyforward.org, 615-743-3400) or Martha O’Brien Center (711 S. 7th Street Nashville, TN 37206-3895, development@marthaobryan.org, 615-254-1791). The family would like to thank the staff at The Crestmoor, Memory Care 3rd floor, especially Letzi, and at Enhabit Hospice, especially nurse Faith Calderon. Ruth has given her body to the Vanderbilt University Medical School Anatomical Donation Program.

Arrangements in the care of Compassion Funeral & Cremation Services, Nashville, TN (615) 857-9955. We proudly remain locally owned & operated.