The Modesto Bee Modesto CA Thursday, July 9, 1998 Pathfinders Church founder Rev. Ruby Nix dies TURLOCK-The Rev. Ruby Pearl Nix, founder and longtime pastor of Pentecostal Pathfinders Church, died Wednesday. She was 76. Rev. Nix led the congregation, founded in 1970, until a couple of years ago. Her husband, Joe Nix, helped her with the church until his death in 1979, but she was Pathfinders only ordained minister, said her son Richard J. Nix. "She was very loving, she really cared about people," he said. "People who were beaten down found a refuge in her." Rev. Nix died at Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Rev. Nix, mother of four, was a full-time homemaker prior to starting the church. She founded Pathfinders because she felt called by God, said her son. Today, the congregation numbers about 60, but once counted more than 100 members. Rev. Nix wrote songs for her family's country gospel group, the Nix Family, during the early 1970s. The Nix Family recorded two albums and performed throughout the San Joaquin Valley and in the Bay Area. She played the guitar and wrote some 70 religious songs during her lifetime. She was born in Snyder, Texas, on Dec. 2, 1921, and moved to Alabama when whe was about 14, her son said. She and her family moved back to Texas briefly and then moved to Turlock in the mid-1940s. Strongly committed to her faith throughout her life, Rev. Nix never took a salary from her church and put all the offering money into building maintenance, her son said. Her husband, a street maintenance and parks employee for the city of Turlock, was the family's breadwinner. Rev. Nix lived on Social Security benefits following his death. Rev. Nix was a gregarious person who always made newcomers feel at home, her son said. "If you were around her very long, you were laughing." The Rev Gilbert Kutscher, who will be the new pastor at Pathfinders, said he met Rev. Nix shortly after he was saved in 1982. She spent hours talking with him about Scriptures and encouraged him in the ministry. Based in part on her support, Kutscher became associate pastor in 1987. Besides her son, Rev. Nix is survived by daughters Alice Faye Raymond, Linda M. Anderson and Myra K. Murray, all of Turlock, and 13 grandchildren. A funeral will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday at Whitehurst Norton Funeral Chapel, 186 W. Main St. Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. today, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday at the chapel.