Goodbye, Ruth

My husband's Aunt Ruth died Saturday in Hope Hospice. She came to live with us a year ago when her husband of 61 years passed away. She stayed five months until her care became more than we could provide. Then she went to reign as the Belle of the Nursing Home for another 8 months. She was a funny, sweet, feisty, generous lady and we were blessed to get to know her better. She loved Nascar racing, and thought Tony Stewart was wonderful! She worked at the telephone company all her life, but to her dismay, realized she no longer understood how to use the telephone. She loved music, flowers, getting her hair done, and eating anything sweet. We had to track her down to visit her at the nursing home. She was always off doing something fun, and when we did find her she was full of stories about winning at Bingo, ("I won a quarter! Big deal!" she'd grin), going out to eat, watching musical performances, attending church services and making new friends. ("There are such nice people here!" she'd tell me). Ruth was generous all her life and even at the home she was always trying to give her things away to the other residents or use her Bingo winnings to buy candy for the staff. She loved new experiences and refused to live in the past. "I won't worry," she told me frequently. "Worry causes wrinkles!"

When Ruth was going to go in the nursing home, she told me she hoped they would offer dancing lessons. Well, now she is in her permanent home - and I'll bet she's dancing!