Well, I knew this one was coming. Aunt Ruth has died. She been completely bedridden for over a year because of her last stroke. She was 89. I guess she'd been going downhill for the last few days and even had a heart attack when she was in the hospital. I'll get more details later after I talk to Molly and Joe.
Ruth was Dad's oldest sister and my godmother. I was always just plain crazy about her and she always treated me like I was something special. She didn't have much of a voice in her last few years but I will always remember how she sounded when she talked. Her voice was high-pitched and kind of breathy, even when she was yelling at Uncle Charles. She spoke in a clear, precise way with that lilting Texas accent. To me, Ruth was Texas. She was funny, overbearing, strong, high-strung, dramatic, smart, fierce, sometimes mean but always full of love for her God, country and family.
Her last years weren't good and she gave her loved ones just as much trouble as Dad gave us. But I never had any bad experiences with her so I'll count myself lucky and enjoy the many good memories I have of my Aunt Ruth. I'm sure I'll be thinking about her a lot over the next few days. It hasn't sunk in yet but I knew the last time I saw her would be the last time.
I'm feeling better now. I'm going to go fix myself a pot of tea and go sit down and listen to the rain and think about Ruth.
6 comments:
Doni,
Iʻm so sorry about your Aunt Ruth. I do remember you writing about your last visit with her.
Golly willikers, - I think itʻs time for some good news for you!
Hang in there - hope you pull out of your cold soon.
Thanks, Nancy. I feel pretty good, just a lot of congestion still. A lot of coughing. They tried to make me sing at uke group yesterday. Ha!
I don't really think of Ruth's passing as bad news. It was time.
And yes, I'll take some good news! That would be lovely.
Our condolences Donita.
Ruth and Charles with the Texas-size sirloins and the havelinas. I'll never forget that trip.
--dean
Thanks, Virginia.
Dean- Yep, that's a good Ruth memory.
Dean and I were traveling back to South Carolina with 10-month-old Lindsay and her dog, Lonesome. When we stopped at the Texas border we got a guide book from the visitor's center. One of the pictures was captioned "Texas Hospitality" and showed a big platter of gigantic steaks. When we got to Charles and Ruth's they had dinner all ready for us. It was a big platter of gigantic steaks. Dean said something like, "Wow, they weren't kiddin'!"
My other favorite Ruth story happened years ago when they ran their dairy. They always had some pregnant cows. If you ever saw buzzards circling it probably meant a calf had been born and the buzzards were waiting around for the afterbirth. One morning Ruth saw buzzards and drove out by herself looking for the calf. She found the cow and calf but didn't have any rope to tie the calf's feet. She looked around to make sure she was alone, took off her shirt, took off her bra, put her shirt back on and tied the calf's feet with the bra. She put the calf in the back of the truck and drove back to the dairy with the cow following.
She was really something.
She's one of the characters that makes Texas so big and Texas-y.
--dean
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