Tommy Roach Ruff was born Tommy Lou Roach on May 30th, 1960, to parents Alva A. Roach and Tommy Lou Bender. She was born and raised in Birmingham and graduated from John Carroll Catholic High School in 1978. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Montevallo in 1982. She then found work in retail as a buyer for Pizitz in Birmingham. She later married and gave birth to a son, Nicholas Wayne Salyers.

After her first marriage ended, Tommy made the decision to distance herself from her first husband, taking her young child Nicholas with her. She then settled down in Huntsville, becoming the general manager at Stein Mart. Nearly a decade later, she met and married Robert Monroe Ruff II on September 6th, 1996. Having two sons, Jackson Robert Ruff and John Thomas Ruff. In 1998, she resigned from her position at Stein Mart to pursue her passion: being a mom. She enjoyed loving and teaching her sons while spending generous amounts of quality time with those she cared for. Beginning in 2008-2012, she became a family life coach with Source Point Training. Tommy had a passion for helping families across the globe with troubled adolescent children.

On December 23rd, 2013, Tommy had a freak accident in which the tibia plateau in her left knee shattered. Having surgery on the injury in February of the following year, she was later diagnosed with Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome, a neurological disorder which was irreversible and caused intense and constant pain. That singular incident caused a domino effect of damage to her body and quality of life leading up to her death.

Despite all of her physical suffering spanning a decade-plus, she found solace in the Lord. A devout Christian from an early age, Tommy carried Christ with her wherever she went and didn’t hesitate to minister to anyone anywhere and everywhere. Whether it was non-Christians, prodigal sons, or young children, sharing the importance of a personal relationship and redemption through Christ Jesus was her passion. She LOVED the Lord; praying, communicating with her Heavenly Father; and sharing the love of Christ. It was a constant joy for her, and not once through her afflictions did she ever admonish or denounce God. She was as faithful a servant as one could strive to be, resembling Job in her struggle and resolute spirit.

She was preceded in death by her stillborn daughter, June, father Alva A. Roach Sr., brother Alva “Sunny” A. Roach, her nephew Joshua Roach, and her mother-in-law Judy Elizabeth Dillard. Tommy leaves to cherish her memory her loving husband, Robert; three sons, Nicholas, Jackson, and John; her mother, Tommy Lou Bender; her father and mother-in-law, Robert and Vivian Ruff; her brother-in-law, Richard Ruff; her sister-in-law, Sonya Roach, and other relatives and friends. 

A private service was held Monday, the 27th.