Ruth Coker Burks

Named Frances Ruth Coker Burks after her grandmother,[3] Burks was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and was friends with Bill Clinton growing up.[2] During her childhood, her mother was hospitalized with tuberculosis for a prolonged period, during which Burks' father was her primary caretaker until his death when she was 5, after which her mother struggled with being Burks' parent. She cites these experiences as formative for her notable empathy.[3]

Burks's family members have been buried in Files Cemetery since the late 19th century. When Burks was a young girl, her mother got into a row with Burks's uncle. To ensure he and his branch of Burks would be never buried in the same place as the rest of the family, her mother bought every grave space in the cemetery. Those were 262 plots of land in Files Cemetery in Hot Springs. Later Burks' mother left that land to her.[2]

As an adult, Burks worked as a real estate broker.[4]

Burks' first interaction with an AIDS patient occurred in 1984, when she was visiting a friend in the hospital.[5] Burks' friend had cancer, so Burks spent a lot of time in the hospital.[1] During one visit, she noticed that nurses were afraid to go into one room covered by a red bag and found out that the patient had what was then known as Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID).[1] Burks' cousin was gay, and she had an interest in learning about the disease and was curious about the patient behind the door.[1]

She met the patient, a young man who wanted to see his mother before he died.[1] To force his mother to hear his wishes, Burks had to threaten the mother with the publication of the man's obituary in their hometown newspaper; even then, the mother called him a "sinner" and said that she would not see him or claim the body when he died.[1] Burks then took over his palliative care and comforted him until his death 13 hours later.[1] After finding a funeral home that would take his body for cremation, she buried his ashes in her family cemetery.[6]

External video
'Cemetery Angel' Ruth Coker Burks Helped Over 1000 AIDS Patients - TODAY Originals

After that first encounter, Burks began to receive phone calls from others who needed her help,[7] caring for over 1,000 people over the 30 or so years she worked with them.[4][8] With assistance from her daughter, Burks has buried more than 40 people in her family cemetery in Hot Springs.[7][8] While her charges were still alive, she helped take them to appointments, obtain medications, apply for assistance, and more.[7] She also kept supplies of AIDS medications on hand, as some pharmacies would not carry these medications.[9]

Because of her work with people with AIDS, as she told KLRT-TV, she and her daughter were "outcasts" and crosses were burned in her yard twice.[6] Burks received financial assistance from gay bars in Arkansas, including the Discovery Club in Little Rock: "They would twirl up a drag show on Saturday night and here'd come the money. [...] That's how we'd buy medicine, that's how we'd pay rent. If it hadn't been for the drag queens, I don't know what we would have done."[7] In 1988, Norman Jones, owner of the Discovery Club, created Helping People with AIDS, where Burks worked for several years.[2] During Bill Clinton's presidency, Burks was a White House consultant for AIDS education.[2]

Burks' patients lived longer past the national average life expectancy, catching the interest of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health which sent researchers to investigate.[4]

After medical care and social attitudes towards AIDS improved, she lived and worked in Florida as a fishing guide and funeral director.[2] In 2012, Burks suffered a stroke and had to relearn many skills, including how to talk, read, feed herself and write; she attributes the stress of caring for victims of the AIDS crisis as a plausible influencing factor.[2] The stroke also led to memory loss.[10] That year, she moved back to Rogers, Arkansas, both in order to be closer to her family and because health insurance would no longer cover her after her stroke.[2][10]

In 2013, Burks advocated for three foster children who were removed from school due to rumors that one might be HIV-positive.[7] After she appeared on TV as an HIV advocate for the children, the community blackballed her, the funeral home she had previously worked at rescinded her standing job offer, and other businesses refused to hire her, with the local Walmart allegedly removing a chair she sat in after finding out she did work with HIV advocacy.[3][10]

In August 2016, she was honored at New York City's Pride Week by not-for-profit group Broadway Sings for Pride.[6] Burks and others are working to create a memorial for victims of AIDS in Hot Springs,[6][10] which would turn the Files Cemetery into a garden that fits its current status as a sort of pilgrimage site for those affected by the crisis.[3] She has spoken at Washington State University and Gonzaga University on her experiences,.[4][10] In 2017, Rose McGowan wrote and directed an unauthorized short film, Ruth, inspired by Burks' work.[11]

Burks' memoir, All the Young Men, co-authored with Kevin Carr O'Leary, was published on December 1, 2020, by Grove Press.[12] Burks is also working with producers Christina Won and Jessica Sittig on a film project based on her life and book.

• Ruth Burks on StoryCorps with Paul Wineland
• Ruth Burks on StoryCorps with Jim Harwood
• Interview with Ruth Burks (2016 video)