Callie Ruth Mack

Mrs. Callie Ruth Mack, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, peacefully passed away suddenly at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at the age of 67 years. Callie was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on Tuesday, August 14, 1955, to Isaac and Lillie Rayford. She was the oldest of seven children and was known as Ruth in the most loving way.

An incredibly special moment for Ruth occurred when she met her beloved Joe Louis Mack and married him on October 04, 1972. For over 50 years, Ruth and Joe shared memories, ideas, and endeavors. They worked at General Motors in Saginaw, Michigan, and traveled across the United States of America on leisure, he on her left and she on his right, hitting the highway always together. Callie Ruth was a faithful and loyal servant of Jehovah. She was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in October of 1985 and was devoted to her faith for 37 years. She enjoyed field ministry, going from door to door. She committed her life to helping others come to know Jehovah. There are friends who would say that you couldn’t find a more loving, caring, warm-hearted, and giving person. Callie Ruth was always on the move assisting others even when she was in pain.

Her favorite scripture: “For I well know the thoughts that I am thinking toward you; declares Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of calamity, to give you a future and hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Callie Ruth shouldered various responsibilities as the firstborn of seven children. She was known to be strong-willed, hardworking, and well-rounded. At an early age, Callie learned how to do things that she grew to truly enjoy in adulthood such as cooking and baking. If you wanted a great sweet potato pie, just have Ruth make it. Callie was extremely talented, she loved gardening, planting flowers, and making bird feeders out of any and everything possible such as cardboard boxes with rocks, gluing them to coffee tin cans for hardness. Joe and Callie would often make ‘Tin Man’ sculptures together that were highly sought after by the neighbors. If you look in her yard today, you will see all the love within her heart from the things she created. Additionally, Callie Ruth loved reading and watching Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, and mystery movies.

Mrs. Callie Ruth Mack leaves to cherish her memory: her loving husband of fifty years, Joe Louis Mack; eight children: Gwen and her husband Walton Hardin, Terryé Mack, Kenyatta Mack, Sharronda Mack and her fiancé William, Joe Mack Junior, Johnny Mack, Ricky Mack, and Tina Butler; 16 grandchildren; 5 siblings, Lee and his wife Gwenette Rayford, DeBora Rayford, Lorraine Rayford, Lawrence Rayford, Martha and her husband Thomas Shaffer; numerous great-grandchildren; and a host of aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Callie Ruth was preceded in death by her mother and father, Lillie and Isaac Rayford; brother, Howard Rayford, grandsons, DeQuan Ford and KaDarius Bailey; and two aunts.