Paula Susan Ruszkiewicz

Paula loved children. From an early age, she knew exactly what she wanted to be and what she wanted to do in life. She wanted to be a children's librarian. For those who knew Paula, it was not a dream, it was a plan. Paula excelled academically through all her school years, graduating magna cum laude from Seton Hill College. She earned a full scholarship to study to be a children's librarian at the University of Pittsburgh in their Masters of Library Science program which she finished in record time. She began her work as a children's librarian for Arlington County Public Library in August of 1974 starting at the Central Library before also working at several different branches. She enjoyed coming up with programs for the very young, babies and toddlers, to school-age kids and enjoyed visiting them in the Arlington Schools. Some of her young patrons years later brought back their own young children to hear Paula read stories and have programs for them. She enjoyed working at the public library for 44 years before retiring.

Paula was a person of strong faith. She and spouse Mario moved into Saint John Catholic parish in McLean, Virginia in January 1978 and have been members of that parish since. Paula’s other great plan in her life was to have her own children if that was God's plan. She and spouse Mario were blessed to have five, Marissa, Alexis, Dominique, Gabrielle, and Joseph. Not only did she teach them to love reading and books, she and Mario believed in a strong Catholic education and enrolled all of their children in the parish school. Paula was very involved with them in school, often volunteering to be a room mother or a chaperone for class trips.

When the need for a Pre-School in her parish became evident, she and a couple of other mothers helped lobby the pastor and the school and helped to co-found the Pre-School. They found a parishioner who was a highly respected and highly regarded teacher and director at another pre-school and recruited her to be their first teacher, soon expanding it to include a Pre-K program, as well. Paula served as a volunteer registrar for the Pre-School, later becoming the staff registrar for the entire parish school.

Beneath her calm exterior, Paula had an adventurous spirit and an inquisitive mind. She never stopped wanting to explore and to learn. She very much enjoyed traveling to satisfy that unquenchable thirst. She traveled with her family, her children, and her college roommate and best friend since, Lynn, across the country from Alaska to Florida and Puerto Rico, and Hawaii to New England. She also traveled to every continent on Earth except Antarctica. Throughout all of her travels, she not only wanted to learn about the natural or the famous local sites, she went to many museums and art galleries throughout the country and the world, taking her family and Lynn along, sometimes whether they liked it or not. She also overcame some fears and tried parasailing, horse riding, and zip lining among other activities.

With the exception of the annual family beach vacation, when Paula would allow people to sleep in, she set an ambitious schedule wanting to maximize every hour of their vacations, whether it was to visit famous local sites, museums, or the many visits to Disney World, Disneyland, SeaWorld, Six Flags, or theme parks in general. With a gentle drill sergeant discipline, she would wake everyone early to hit the sights or museums or the parks, allow an after lunch break to rest, nap, or go to the pool, then resume for the rest of the day. Whether it was learning or fun, they were going to get a lot out of it. On her vacations with Lynn, Paula was the driver while Lynn navigated. What a team they were. When she was not traveling, Paula’s hobbies were reading, gardening, and quilting. Her quilts, always made for someone else, were labors of love, requiring many hours of design, cutting, sewing, before finally quilting.

Paula believed in living her faith, whether it was volunteering in the school, making sandwiches or tuna casseroles for Christ House, driving for Meals on Wheels, or making charitable contributions. Her charitable contributions included sponsoring a child or more, buying cows or goats for families, or building a house. She also indulged her fondness of shopping by adopting a family every Christmas through Catholic Charities, buying gifts for parents and children, both the practical such as clothing, and toys for the kids.

But nothing gave Paula more satisfaction, happiness, fulfillment, and joy than being a mother and grandmother. From the time she and Mario were getting serious about getting married and starting to plan a life together, they both wanted children very much. The only questions were how many and how soon. They agreed on three or four but were open to more. They also agreed to space them 3 years apart so that no more than two would be in college at the same time.

They decided that they would buy a house first before having children. Mario's schedule was to buy a house about a year after they were married. Paula moved that schedule up to six months after finding the house they have lived in since, and persuading Mario that they should buy it. Six months after that, they learned that they were expecting their first child. Marissa arrived in January of 1979, followed by sisters Alexis, Dominique, and Gabrielle, almost at 3-year intervals. Each of them had been planned. But approximately 10 months after Gabrielle’s birth, they learned that they were expecting again. Of course, they would accept God's pleasant and off-schedule surprise. Nineteen months after Gabrielle was born, Joseph was born into the family.

Paula was very involved in every aspect of each of their childhoods, while letting them grow as individuals. She and Mario believed in giving their children values and the tools of life so that they could live their own lives, make their own decisions, and their own mistakes, as well. She was so proud of each of them, how they took different paths, and achieved independence and success on their own terms.

After her children got a little older, Paula yearned for grandchildren for many years. She just could not wait. In September 2018, Paula was happy to welcome Zach as a son-in-law. She enjoyed learning all about the newest member of the family. Perhaps, it also put her in a better position to be a Grandma, too. Just a year later, in November 2019, she was happy to have another daughter when Kathryn married Joseph. Paula was very happy that Kathryn had Polish roots as Paula was very proud of her own Polish roots.

Paula finally got her wish just before Christmas of 2020 when Joseph and Kathryn, and Gabrielle and Zach, informed her in the midst of the pandemic that they were expecting. Paula was so excited to get the news that she would be a grandmother twice over in the summer just six weeks apart. After they were born, she looked forward to seeing grandson Felix and granddaughter Adriana every week. She very much enjoyed holding babies, and was especially delighted to hold her long awaited grandchildren. When Adriana was a few months older, Paula looked forward to watching her twice a week while one of her parents worked remotely from the basement office. As Felix and Adriana got older, she enjoyed having them sit on her lap as she read to them and they enjoyed playing with Grandma, as well. Sadly, when Paula got seriously ill in April 2023, she could no longer continue to watch Adriana. She still enjoyed frequent visits from both her grandchildren.

Then in 2024, Paula was so excited to have granddaughters Sylvie and Jacinta born just three months apart. More babies to hold, and she was so happy every minute that she could do so. As her health slowly declined, Paula no longer had the energy to play with her grandchildren, but she still enjoyed seeing them, watching them play, and reading to them.

Paula's traveling days had been over for a few years except for one last trip, one that she had been preparing for and looking forward to her entire life, her final trip to see our Lord. In her final days, she received the sacraments and was at peace and ready to begin her final journey.

As much as she loved flowers, Paula would have preferred to have contributions sent to one of her favorite charities, Food for the Poor, https://www.foodforthepoor.org.

A Celebration of Life Visitation will be held at Murphy Funeral Home, located at 1102 West Broad Street, Falls Church, VA 22046, on February 23, 2026, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

The Mass of Christian Burial will take place at Saint John the Beloved Academy, 6422 Linway Terrace, McLean, VA 22101, on February 24, 2026, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Interment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 13801 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20906, on February 24, 2026, from 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm.