Aunt Ruth

Right after my last post I got an email from a cousin saying that her mother had died on May 31. Aunt Ruth was my father's youngest sibling, and had been the only one left for several years. She was 93. She was a Renaissance woman, as was my friend Shirley whom I wrote about a month ago. She was one of the 'Rosies' during WW II. For many years she made and sold gold wire jewelry (I have two name pins) at fairs. She painted in tempera and oils, did rose mauling, decorated cakes, made teddy bears (I hope my daughter still has hers), knitted, spun yarn, did cabinetmaking and other carpentry. I'm sure she did other things as well, but those are the things I know about.

When my cousin Don was young, she painted scenes on the walls of his bedroom - igloos on the north wall, something tropical on the south one, cowboys on the west one, and an industrial scene on the east. Only she got east and west mixed up, but I don't think anyone really cared.

When she and Uncle Roy sold the farm and moved into senior housing thirteen years ago, it didn't take the other residents long to find out that if a window was stuck or there was some other minor problem, it was much better to call Ruth than to call maintenance.