Ruth Murray Poulin

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Roy Murray and Ida Mae Bolt, Ruth was the youngest of 7 children. After graduating from South High School in Grand Rapids, she and a couple of girlfriends went to nursing school in Gary, Indiana. On February 7, 1947, she graduated from Gary Methodist Hospital, through the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps progam. One year later, in February 1948, Ruth and her best friend Jan, took off for California. When she got to Los Angeles, Ruth started working for the Veterans Administration Hospital where she met Philip Poulin who was a patient at the time. They were married March 12, 1950 and were together until his passing in 1998.

Philip and Ruth moved from Santa Monica to Torrance in 1963. Ruth had taken off 13 years from nursing to raise her 4 children. That same year, she went to work at Torrance Memorial Hospital and stayed there until she retired in 1988. She continued to volunteer at the hospital and worked with cancer patients, taking them to their treatments.

Ruth was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. She had many interests and hobbies. She loved to listen to Vin Scully, watch Tiger play golf, and split football viewing time between Notre Dame and her beloved Michigan Wolverines. She loved to snow ski with her nursing friends. Her husband Phil loved to travel and Ruth went to many exciting places with him, her family and friends. In her later years, health problems would make it difficult for her to get around, so she became an avid quilter. Already an accomplished seamstress, Ruth could usually be found in her sewing room seven days a week. She always had projects in work for her grandchildren. She made their Halloween costumes, vests for every holiday and everyone had monogrammed towels. She supported the children's sports programs, working the Snack Shack at little league. As all the grandkid's were all involved in soccer, softball and baseball, she never missed a game, sometimes attending three a day!

Ruth will be greatly missed by her friends at The South Bay Church of God, her sewing group from AAA Sew and Vac and her lifelong nursing friends. She is survived by her four children; daughter, Marie; son, Philip and his wife, Dolly; daughter Susie; son, Guy and his wife, Lisa, and her beloved grandchildren, Brandon, Madison, Haley, Philip III, Emerson, Isabel and Stella, as well as nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

Services will be held Saturday, August 2nd, 12 noon, at the South Bay Church of God. In lieu of flowers, the family asks you send a donation in Ruth's name to the church.