Trudy B McCaughan

Gertrude was named after her Mother’s sister Gertrude & her Mother Bertha, born December 29, 1927 at her Grandmother McCreary’s home on Chemical Row in Claymont, Delaware. Gertrude was the 1st child & 1st daughter born to Walter & Bertha Ruebeck. She was raised with 4 other sisters, Lillian, Marie “Honey”, Anna “Dale” & Claire “Sunshine “in Delaware. Eventually she had another sister Nancy Jane & brother Walter born to the family after she was married. The family was active in the Methodist church in Claymont & Gert graduated from Claymont High school 1946. At her cousin Bertha’s wedding, which was at her family home on Green St. in Claymont, Del which her father built, she met, in her own bedroom, and fell for the handsome best man Army Air Corpsman Robert McCaughan. After a fast courtship he went back to California to be discharged from the service. She followed to visit her cousin Bertha & meet his family in California. The first thing her future brother in laws did was giving her a nick name & called her “Trudy” which she loved & it stuck. The next April a pottery Easter egg arrived in Delaware with an engagement ring inside! They were married that June 21, 1947 in Claymont Delaware. They drove back to California for their honeymoon with a trip to Canada to see Bob’s Maternal grandparents , George & Minnie Phillips, on the way, to start their life together. It was after the war so housing was tight & their first home was a rented fixed up Chicken coop in Downey. That lasted as long as it took for Bob to get food poisoning &, his brothers, his Dad & brother in laws to build a home on his parents land on La Reina in Downey. Their daughter Pauline was born while they lived there. They then in 1953 bought their home on East Corey St in Downey. They were thrilled the next year with their son Bruce. In 1956 Trudy cared for her Mother in law, Eleanor until she died in their home in November. When their son Jeffrey was born in 1957 Mother always said he was a gift from God after all the family had gone through.

She loved her home & backyard for parties and enjoyed having many Bar B Q’s , family gatherings, Grand Dad McCaughan’s funeral reception, Bob’s funeral reception, a wedding reception for her sister Claire & Chuck, and her Father & Lucille’s wedding reception plus Pauline & Bruce’s wedding receptions. She loved having family around.

Bob & Trudy was very active in the first Presbyterian Church & she was a wedding coordinator there. When the children were older she became very active in all their activates from PTA, Brownies, Girl Scouts, Jobe’s Daughters, Indian Guides, Little League, Pop Warner Football, Baseball & Wrestling. She loved cake decorating and crafts & boy did we make many crafts for all the events. She loved to sew and made many of our clothes through the years from curtains, bed spreads, Hawaiian shirts, baggies, formals, Bridesmaids dresses, vests, cumber bunds, Wedding dresses & frilly dresses for her grand daughters. And she loved costumes. She loved making them & wearing them.

Trudy & Bob were active Square dancers and she loved the outfits. More sewing!! They were members of the Imperial 8’s Square dance club & even danced at the Olympics in Los Angeles. After Bob died in her arms Square dancing in 1987 in Downey she became active in Ballroom dancing for many years. She loved the music & dancing.

She made many trips to see her sisters and brother & their families in Delaware. Most of our family vacations were trips to Delaware. Sometimes they came here but family was very important to her and she loved seeing them all & seeing Delaware.

She always told Pauline she was not going to sit home and baby sit grandkids. She was going to be busy doing things but when Blake came along things changed & she always had time for him and loved all the times she had being a Grandmother. She was over joyed when Melissa. Kristin & Kathryn came along. Now she had little girls to dress up and play with. What fun she had. She was in heaven. Laura joined our family as a young teenager and added to the mix. She was older when Darren was born but she was able to spend lots of time with him and he filled her days with so much fun and happiness. He was a real joy to her. She had her first great grandchild when Rian was born and Rian was close in age to Darren so she enjoyed seeing them grow. When Jared, Anissa, Anaya, Keelin, Kendal & Maxwell were born she was in different stages of her illness of a long goodbye. Her family is a great legacy to what wonderful parents we had.

She was a close friend to many of her neighbors. She lived in her Corey St home until 2004 when she moved to her retirement home Sunrise of La Palma. She has been very happy with her Sunrise family and they have been wonderful & loving to her. She has always enjoyed her time at Sunrise from the first day. Connie was her best friend instantly and all the care givers were wonderful… & Anthony, well what can we say, he’s a saint and helped to make her life there full of fun and enjoyment.

On March 1, 2012 she moved to a new home in Cypress. Felinda & her staff were very loving and caring to her but her illness was very advanced and she was moved to Alamitos West a long term nursing center and then in June Gerinet Hospice took over her care. They have been very kind and caring to her and we thank them all.

She was preceded in death by her parents Walter & Bertha Ruebeck and her husband Robert in 1987.

She is survived by her daughter Pauline (Bill Hathaway) Grandson Blake Polin (Shamika, daughters Anissa & Anaya), granddaughters Melissa (Arnold Francisco, son Maxwell) & Laura (Kris Kaslow son Jared Hoff & Keelin Kaslow)

son Bruce (Cheryl, Granddaughters Kristin (Brady Kooiiman daughters Rian & Kendall) & Kathryn McCaughan

son Jeffery (Sandy son Darren) McCaughan; Sisters Lillian Brady, Marie "Honey" Spicer, Anna "Dale" Rose, Claire "Sunshine", Nancy Jaffe & brother Walter Ruebeck. Sister in laws Nora Grey, Mable Miner, Kathleen McCaughan & Brother in law Fred (Donna) McCaughan and many nieces & nephews

The family wants to express their thanks to all of you for caring for our Mother & being here today for our support.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Alzheimer's Association;

P. O. Box 96011

Washington, D.C. 20090-6011

or call 1-800-272-3800

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