{"id":293654,"date":"2026-06-05T14:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianchronicle.org\/?p=293654"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:22:17","slug":"exploring-the-1963-murder-of-a-harding-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianchronicle.org\/exploring-the-1963-murder-of-a-harding-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the 1963 murder of a Harding teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEARCY, ARK. \u2014<\/strong> Deana Hamby Nall and Mike S. Allen tell the comprehensive story of a Harding University professor\u2019s disappearance in October 1963 in \u201cThe Abduction of Mrs. Ruby Lowery Stapleton.\u201d<\/strong><\/a> Stapleton disappeared from a laundromat, and her body was found 11 days later.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the case remains unsolved after 63 years.<\/p>\n

\"Deana<\/a>

Deana Hamby Nall and Mike S. Allen. \u201cThe Abduction of Mrs. Ruby Lowery Stapleton.\u201d<\/strong> <\/a>Independently published. 2025. 264 pages. $14.95.<\/p><\/div>\n

The prologue starts with a beautiful description of central Arkansas\u2019 woods in October, with just enough suspense to encourage the reader to turn the page.<\/p>\n

The picture was clear for me, a current Harding student, and elicited memories of fall days spent hiking at Petit Jean State Park or Sugarloaf Mountain 100 miles southwest of campus.<\/p>\n

Nall and Allen\u2019s storytelling immediately drew me in. As I dove further into the English teacher\u2019s story, there were moments I forgot I was reading.<\/p>\n

I researched the Stapleton case for Harding\u2019s student newspaper, The Bison, in October 2025. But I was pleasantly surprised to read anecdotes in Nall and Allen\u2019s book that I hadn\u2019t discovered.<\/p>\n

The authors did an excellent job of incorporating stories that described various aspects of all the characters in Stapleton\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

Two stories in particular were new to me: one about Ruby\u2019s memories from Mother\u2019s Day in 1963 and another about E.R. Stapleton, Ruby\u2019s husband, during the 1942 cotton harvest.<\/p>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t<\/promotion-zone>\n\t\t\t<\/promotion-zone>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n

I found the story about E.R. interesting because it revealed a lighthearted and competitive side of his character \u2014 depth that I had not seen during my own research.<\/p>\n

Interview transcripts and comments from others in the book portray E.R. in a different manner \u2014 as a suspect.<\/p>\n

Nall and Allen\u2019s book is a thoroughly researched and extremely detailed account of Stapleton\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

\n\n
\n

They present a comprehensive timeline of the events connected with the abduction and investigation. One aspect I particularly appreciate about the timeline is the context for the time of Ruby Stapleton\u2019s disappearance outside of the \u201cHarding bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget sometimes, but life goes on outside of campus. Big events were happening in 1963. Earlier in the fall semester, Harding President George Benson announced the school was desegregating.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Stapleton\u2019s body was found, local and national media focused on another tragedy: President John F. Kennedy\u2019s assassination in November 1963. The news and federal law enforcement, as Nall and Allen describe, shifted their efforts away from the Stapleton case and toward the assassination.<\/p>\n

\n