Ruth Spector

Ruth Spector was born on October 8, 1926. Her mother and father, Bessie and Philip Cwass were from Poland. If mom’s personality could be summed up in one word it would be “fierce”. She was fiercely loving of her husband, family and friends. While she was so shy as a child, hiding under her moms, house dress, she quickly learned to be strong and fiercely protective of her kid brother and parents. In the 20s and 30s, everyone was on public assistance. The Welfare inspector would come to the house and inspect her mother's koshering board. If they found meat on it, they would try to remove her family from public assistance. Ruth fought to keep them on public assistance so her family could survive. As a young teen, her brother Murray was hemorrhaging from a tonsillectomy. Ruth fiercely fought, running to a nearby gas station with a pay phone to call the doctor who advised her to have him suck on ice chips till the bleeding stopped. The product of a simple-minded father that was beaten too heavily learning a trade in Poland, she fiercely fought to get him paid by the factory owner. Making him count out the money in her hand, Ruth fiercely fought to keep her family fed.

Her teen years were spent walking down Pitkin Ave with her girlfriends Harriett, Florence and Renee holding song sheets and singing 40s songs on the top of their lungs. They took up the entire sidewalk. Her love was singing. With a beautiful range and vibrato, she performed the song “you’ll never know” at the Fox Theatre radio hour in Brooklyn. She was supposed to sing with a big band but the bandleader died of appendix complications.

Ruth began working for Federal when she was 14. It was wartime and her bosses were from the military. Dealing with the officers chasing her around the desk, and making wolf whistles at her sweater girl outfits, she had to put up with a lot but continued to develop her inner strength.

She met her future husband, Jerry at 14. He saved her from a loose dog trying to bite her. Dad used to joke with her saying “damn dog”. Their courtship was spent rowing on the water in Prospect Park. At the beginning, her mother-in-law didn’t like her and even tried to stop the wedding. But mom fiercely fought for her happiness - eventually becoming friends with her mother-in-law. Dad saw all her yelling funny. If her made her scream, he’d then laugh a goofy laugh. One time he disarrayed all the furniture while she was taking a shower so she’d scream “we were robbed”.

I sometimes think they thrived on bickering. Dad loved her so much. He’d applaud when she walk down the stairs dressed for dinner. They won tons of dance contests up in the Borscht Belt. They went to Arthur Murray Dance school to learn the steps of the Rhumba, Cha-Cha and Meringue’s.

In 1963, they had their only child -Richard. It was always the “3” of them. Taking car trips with sing-alongs to the Amish was moms favorite. She adeptly used her “crying strategy” to get dad to take us to Europe. They loved each other dearly but the use of their Brownsville Brooklyn potty mouths made for an interesting relationship - but definitely not boring.

Mom was known as either “Mama Ruthie” or Mother Spector to my friends. She was completely supportive of my lifestyle and wanted me to find someone that “loved me more than he loved himself”. She loved watching me do Sketch comedy with The Goon Squad at Caroline’s. The director called her “Goon Mom”. As a child being bullied, she was fiercely loyal wanting to mow down any kids that would pick on me.

When dad passed, she would say that she lost her arms and legs. But she never lost her zest for love and joy. She would tell my former boss and broker that they were her second sons. She called a dear friend “her daughter born in her heart”. She was like the Mayor of Waldbaums - always asking people if they are taking care of themselves. She was loved by her neighbors and would even counsel friends and family of finding someone to love.

Mom would still sing 40s songs with me up till the very end. Even as recent as 2 weeks ago, she’d still sing “I’ll be Loving You Always”.

The day before she died she would squeeze my hand tight. Her last words were almost like the end of Brigadoon, saying constantly “I love you, I love you, I love you.

We’ll always love our Brooklyn Broad and now you can go onto winning those dance contests with daddy.

A chapel service for Ruth will be held Friday, November 1, 2024 from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM at Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapels, 114-03 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY 11375. Following the chapel service will be a committal service from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM at New Montefiore Cemetery, 1180 Wellwood Ave, West Babylon, NY 11704.