After a brief decline Mom went to be with the Lord. It was on Dad’s birthday! I like to think of the joy she is having as she reunites with all her family who are there! I think she’s giggling with her sisters! 

That was a message from my cousin, letting me know her mother, my aunt, had died. She was the last surviving family member of my mother’s generation and lived to be 98 years old. I agree with my cousin Becky. I’m sure the sisters are all giggling like I remember hearing them when they got together for the family reunions.

She made an impression on me as a young girl. When she and her family visited our  family home in Oregon, she dressed up for church and wore spectator pumps.

Ruth had a  twinkle in her dark blue eyes and had a keen sense of humor. She had the most beautiful handwriting. An author of hundreds of published articles, romance novels as well as biographical books about her family, she was talented. She loved her husband, children, grandchildren, and extended family. I know she cared about each of us and shared memories of us when we were kids. There’s so much more about her I don’t know and look forward to hearing about them at her memorial service next month.

When I  visited Aunt Ruth and Uncle Russ as a grieving widow, it was good to be with them. We sat around the breakfast table for hours where we’d talk about family and some of her memories, living during the Great Depression. Both she and her husband Russ were full of stories and anecdotes about family members and history. The conversations comforted me.

After Uncle Russ died, I know she missed him very much, but she carried on and continued to live. Just this past summer, Jim, grandson Caleb and I, stopped to visit her in Omaha on our trip east. We enjoyed visiting with her and family, eating delicious barbecued ribs at a restaurant, and just being together. I had hoped this wouldn’t be the last time we’d see each other on this earth, but am glad we took the time for this visit, for it would be our last.

During this time together, I was struck by how much Aunt Ruth looked and sounded like my own mother–gone now  nearly fourteen years. Today, they’re reunited. Of course, Aunt Ruth is reunited with her husband of more than sixty years, her other siblings, parents, and friends–and of course her Savior, Jesus Christ.

I will miss Aunt Ruth–but I know I’ll see her again. She was the last connection with my mother–whose birthday is today. Below is a collage of both Aunt Ruth and my mother, Rose. They definitely look like sisters, don’t they?

As I close, I’ll end with a song that most likely my mother, Aunt Ruth and the rest of the family sang together. We love you, Ruth Richert Jones. I’ll see you later!

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