Obituary of RuthAnn Crandall Hoopes

Ruth Ann Woods Crandall Hoopes of Thatcher, Phoenix, and Mesa, Arizona passed away peacefully on April 5, 2024, in Mesa, Arizona. She was 88 years old and surrounded by family.

Ruth Ann Woods was born on November 24, 1935, in Thatcher, Arizona, in the front room of the Victorian-styled Woods family home originally built in 1897 by her Great-Grandfather. She joined her parents, Royal “Grant” Woods and Genevieve Jacobson, her 8-year-old brother Roy and 5-year-old sister Cherrial. She spent her entire childhood in that stately home on the corner of Stadium and Main Street in Thatcher. She attended Thatcher Elementary School, Thatcher High and attended a year at Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher. She was Class President, Cheerleader, and the Gila Valley’s representative for Salad Bowl Princess for the 1953 Fiesta Bowl (at Arizona State College). She played several sports for the Thatcher High Eagles. By the time she graduated High School in 1953, she had been invited to try out as pitcher for the women’s semi-professional fastpitch softball team in Phoenix. Her father, who she adored, discouraged the move, since “Those Phoenix girls are a rough bunch.”

At age 19, Ruth Ann transferred to Arizona State College in Tempe and fast-tracked to earn her bachelor’s degree in Education in 1957. It was there in an LDS college Sunday School class that she met Wilford Myron Crandall of Mesa, Arizona. “Wil” was immediately smitten. By their third date, he proposed marriage, and he continued to propose weekly for the next 8 months until she finally agreed. They were married in a big wedding on June 23, 1955, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple in Mesa.

Education was a Woods family tradition, and Ruth Ann spent her 40-year professional career as an Elementary School Teacher. Her first job was teaching 4th grade at Mesa’s Lehi School in 1957. Throughout her teaching career, she also taught 3rd or 4th Grade in the Mesa Public Schools at Adams Elementary (1964-70), and Hawthorne Elementary (1970-98). By the time she ultimately retired from teaching in 1998, she had contributed to the education of more than 1200 students and successfully passed down her love for teaching to each of her children.

Outside of work, she sang beautiful soprano solos, sang in groups and choirs, organized and taught early morning aerobics classes, and she supported her husband Wil in his various business ventures. She was an accomplished seamstress and personally tailored her sons’ suits that they took on their church missions. She played the piano and insisted on piano lessons for her children. She was active in the national schoolteacher’s sorority Delta-Kappa-Gamma. She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and enjoyed full participation in her local congregation, serving in various church leadership and teaching roles over the years.

Ruth Ann and Wil had 6 children: Dennis Grant Crandall, Jeffrey Paul Crandall, Marlo Glen Crandall, Richard Alan Crandall (Aug-Nov 1967), Myra Ann Vance, and Marci Ann Lang. She was a doting grandmother of 21 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. After Wil passed away in 2005, “Ruthie” managed her sadness by frequent visits with family and her dear sister “Aunt Cherri”.

In 2007, a bright new life chapter began when Ruth Ann married her dear friend John “JB” Hoopes, DDS. They had known each other since they were in Elementary School in Thatcher and had even been on double dates together in their teen years, though with other people. After their spouses passed, it seemed natural that they got together. When JB looked at her, he always saw that cute

cheerleader he remembered from Thatcher High. JB became the only grandfather that Marci’s boys ever knew, and he was embraced, admired, and loved by the whole family.

Ruth Ann Woods Crandall Hoopes is survived by her husband John Bert Hoopes, her children Dennis (Laura), Jeff (Debi), Marlo (DeAnne), Myra (Chris), and Marci (Brandon), 19 grandchildren, and 24 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Wilford Myron Crandall (1935-2005), her parents Royal Grant Woods (1907-1986) and Genevieve Josephine Jacobson (1908-1984), her parents-in-law Paul Leslie Crandall (1901-1987) and Barbara Allen (1903-2003), her brother Roy Grant Woods (1927-2007), her sister Cherrial Josephine Woods Morris Updike (1930-2022), her son Richard Alan Crandall (1967), and twin grandsons Peter Marcellus Crandall and Jack Wilson Crandall (1995).

A funeral service provided by Meldrum Mortuary will be held at 10:00am on Friday, April 12 at the LDS Church building at 933 East Brown Road in Mesa. Viewing and family greeting will begin at 9:00am. Graveside services will be held at 2:00pm at the Mesa City Cemetery that afternoon.