Ruth Carter Stapleton
Carter in 1978
Born	Ruth Carter (1929-08-07)August 7, 1929 Plains, Georgia, U.S.
Died	September 26, 1983(1983-09-26) (aged 54) Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.
Education	Georgia State College for Women Methodist University (BA) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (MA)
Known for	Evangelism
Spouse	Robert Stapleton ​ (m. 1948)​
Children	4
Parents	James Earl Carter Sr. (father) Bessie Gordy (mother)
Relatives	Jimmy Carter (brother) Gloria Carter Spann (sister) Billy Carter (brother) Jack Carter (nephew) Chip Carter (nephew) Donnel Carter (nephew) Amy Carter (niece)

Ruth Carter Stapleton (néeCarter; August 7, 1929 – September 26, 1983) was an American Christianevangelist. She was the younger sister of United States PresidentJimmy Carter andRosalynn Carter’s best friend.

Ruth Carter Stapleton was born on August 7, 1929, inPlains, Georgia, the third of the four children in the family ofJames Earl Carter, Sr. andLillian Gordy Carter.

Besides the former president, Stapleton had an older sister,Gloria (1926–1990), and a younger brother,Billy (1937–1988). All three of them died ofpancreatic cancer, as did their father.^[1]

Stapleton attendedGeorgia State College for Women, earned her bachelor's in English fromMethodist University, and her master's in psychology from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Stapleton married Robert Thome Stapleton (1925–2014),^[2] aveterinarian, in 1948 and they had four children: Gloria Lynn (born May 31, 1950), Sydney Scott (December 23, 1951 – December 13, 2019), Patricia Gordy (born May 29, 1954) and Robert Michael (born November 5, 1958). Stapleton suffered from chronic depression,^[3] and was involved in a car accident that nearly killed her during the time immediately following her children's births.^[4][5] She said she was later cured of depression at a "Christ-centered camp".^[5]

In 1977, she became friends with pornographerLarry Flynt and managed to briefly convert him to Christianity. She was portrayed during this portion of Flynt's life byDonna Hanover in the filmThe People vs. Larry Flynt.

Stapleton was also known for her involvement in thefaith-healing ministry, especially in healing memories. Her booksThe Gift of Inner Healing,The Experience of Inner Healing, andIn His Footsteps: The Healing Ministry of Jesus, Then and Now, illustrate her beliefs about inner healing, which involved healing memories, in which one would go over one's memories and bring Jesus into the memory to help one forgive or be comforted as required by Jesus.

Stapleton died ofpancreatic cancer on September 26, 1983, aged 54.^[6] One month after her death, her mother died ofbreast cancer, aged 85.

• Stapleton, Ruth Carter (1968).Power Through Release. Macalester Park Pub. Co.
• Stapleton, Ruth Carter (1973).In His Footsteps. Harper & Row.ISBN 0-06-067516-0.
• Stapleton, Ruth Carter (1976).The Gift of Inner Healing. Word Books.ISBN 0-8499-0082-4.
• Stapleton, Ruth Carter (1978).Brother Billy. Harper & Row.ISBN 0-06-014063-1.
• Stapleton, Ruth Carter (1979).The Experience of Inner Healing. Bantam Books.ISBN 978-0-553-12047-9.
• Stapleton, Ruth Carter (1979).In His Footsteps : The Healing Ministry of Jesus, Then and Now. Harper and Row.ISBN 978-0-06-067516-5.

• Georgia Encyclopedia
• "Carter's Sister Faces Cancer".The New York Times. May 14, 1983. p. 3-7.
• Hayward, Steven F. (2004).The Real Jimmy Carter.Regnery Publishing.ISBN 0-89526-090-5.

• 1929 births
• 1983 deaths
• People from Plains, Georgia
• Carter family
• Gordy family
• Deaths from pancreatic cancer in North Carolina
• American evangelists
• Women evangelists
• Southern Baptists
• American Charismatics
• Baptist writers
• 20th-century American women
• American faith healers

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