Ruth Letowsky

Foof was born August 18, 1941 to Ethel and Manuel Letowsky in Peekskill, NY. She died of natural causes early Friday morning, July 19, 2013, in her Marietta home.

Foof was a quiet and precocious child who eventually became Director of Public Relations, Promotion, Publicity and Advertising at the ABC affiliate in Atlanta. Her list of loves was long… her Phabulous Pheline Phoebe (who recently passed), and every child and every animal of the world.

She is survived by her sister, Fran “MOS” Segal of Sandy Springs; her niece, Jill “Cookie” and her husband, Paul, Paris of Marietta; her nephew, Harry “Pud” and his wife, Robbie, Segal of Harvard, MA; and her multitudes of grandnieces and grandnephews: Evan “Ebbie” and Kyle Paris of Atlanta, and new baby, Jack; Amber Segal of Harvard, MA; Josh “Joshie Sweet Face” and Holly “HAC” Covett of Sandy Springs, and their children, Will “The Whim” and Andi “Andi Pandi”; Lydia “Tallu” and Chris Bishop of Canton; Alli Segal of Harvard, MA; Chad “The Face” and Alison “Exquisite Person” Paris of Gainesville, FL; Audrey “Dolly Sunshine” Paris of Atlanta; Greg “Mr. Cool” and Virginie “V” Gimenez of Hawaii, and their two boys, Elijah and Noah.

Words from her funeral:

If there's one takeaway or lesson I have from her life it is to spend my life looking through the unfiltered eyes of the purest life form - children. Little, to no ego. No filter. No hurt feelings. Extremely present. Everything is an adventure. Everything. Now, she's just moved onto a different adventure.

Thank you for my childhood. For all the broken rules. For all of the stolen objects. All of the lottery tickets. For introducing me to a love for animals and creativity. You were my best friend growing up, but then I grew up. I'm sorry I grew up. I didn't mean to. It happened so fast.

Foofie was the perfect combination of both Peter Pan and Mary Poppins rolled into one. The most capable of imaginary friends.

If you wanted to see love at first sight – on repeat – all you had to do was watch [her great-grandnephew’s] eyes when Foofie pulled out the perfect book or chocolate cupcake from her pocketbook or when she measured his height and exclaimed, “You’ve grown so tall! It’s time for another panda sticker!”

It was these moments that were absolutely magical… it was as if every animal and every child knew and loved Foofie instantly. They were drawn to her. She transformed into the perfect playmate.

I think everybody in this room would agree that once Foofie started loving you... She was never going to stop. And she never will. We are all fortunate enough to continue on with our lives knowing the we will forever be loved by a woman that loved until it hurt and loved us to pieces and loved so hard it made her cry.

And now, a Word from Foofie (taken from an email to “Face” dated March 23, 2012):

I've always wanted a cartoon where the mommy and daddy panda are in the same frame - the mommy is holding the baby and says, 'I think he looks like you.' Now that is funny.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to Canine Companions or bubbles can be blown anytime, anywhere.