Ruth Nancy Rubin

She was born in Rochester New York October 16, 1929, to Phil and Min Bubes, three minutes before her twin brother Syd. Brother Larry came along a few years later. The family moved to New Jersey and then to the Washington, D.C. area, where Ruth graduated from Montgomery Blair High School and the University of Maryland College Park.

During college, brother Syd introduced Ruth to his friend Sheldon Rubin. The couple hit it off from the moment they met, launching a lifetime of love and adventure. They married on June 19, 1954. First came love, then came marriage, then came offspring in a baby carriage: Mitch (spouse Spencer), Gail (spouse David, deceased), Lee (previous spouse Maria), and Glen (spouse Pat), in that order. Granddaughter Dianne (spouse Geoffrey) came along, and she had great-grandson Max in 2022. Ruth and Shelly enjoyed 69 years of marriage until death parted them when he died at the age of 93 in August 2023.

After college and before the family came along, Ruth taught elementary school for two years in Baltimore and Silver Spring. She became a stay-at-home mom who was incredibly active: a troop leader in Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, a member of Shaare Tefila synagogue’s sisterhood and a life member of Hadassah, starting with the Kadima Chapter in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. She and Shelly managed real estate properties together, cleaning out homes and bringing home unusual items left by tenants, such as an old wagon wheel, oriental carpets, and anything nautical.

She was a wonderful cook and “hostess with the mostest.” She made the fluffiest matzoh balls, the best brisket, and kugel to die for. She hosted holiday gatherings and parties throughout the year while making it look easy. Family gatherings with the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins took place regularly either at the Rubin, Cohen or Bubes households: Passover, Thanksgiving, Hannukah, New Years, Super Bowl, birthdays, bar and bat mitzvahs. She loved pickles and reminisced about the wonderful sauerkraut her Bubbe in Rochester made.

She managed the family camping trips. An epic 1970 cross country trip from Washington, D.C. to California and back had her managing four kids ranging from age of 15 to 9 in a pop up Starcraft camper. Every summer there was a week at Ocean City or Rehoboth Beach. The family would go boating on the Chesapeake and camping in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia. With husband Shelly they went on many trips to exotic, far flung places. The family would reunite for milestone anniversary celebrations, including cruises to Alaska, Bermuda, and the Mississippi River.

She loved nurturing plants and had a large collection of potted flora that transferred to each home they lived in: Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Leisure World, Delray Beach, FL, and Albuquerque, NM. She also loved butterflies, which offer a metaphor for transformation from the physical world to the spiritual.

While she had a sweet disposition, she was also a tough cookie. She faced multiple health challenges throughout her life, and still wanted to live on, even when persistent pneumonia became just too much to overcome.

Graveside funeral services will take place on Friday, November 8 at 11:00 a.m. at King David Memorial Park, inside National Memorial Park, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA. Contact family members for post-funeral visitation information. Memorial donations can be made in Ruth’s honor to Hadassah.