Ruby Agnes Quinn

Ruby Agnes Quinn was born on March 1, 1926 in the small rural town of Nowlin located on the prairies of South Dakota. She was the second daughter born to Albert and Frances (Griswold) Quinn; Ruby’s older sister Faye arrived two years before her. After Ruby, three more sisters were born into the Quinn family: Betty, Eva, and Bonnie. Ruby’s younger years were spent in Belvidere, South Dakota on the family homestead. Their small 2-bedroom home was built into the side of a hill which provided for warmth in the winter and a cool refuge in the summer. It was a small home and the five girls had to share a room and Ruby shared a bed with Faye and Betty. Ruby’s mother prepared all of the food for the family from the fruits and vegetables grown on the property and from the meat that they raised for

butchering.

Money was tight then as the Great Depression hit the family hard. They had a root cellar where they canned and stored foods to last throughout the winter. Ruby shared stories of how she and her sisters all hid the crust of the bread under the rim of the family table top because they didn’t like crust. All was well and good until their mother moved the table and all the hidden crust fell to the floor! The girls certainly got a lecture for that misadventure!

The girls all attended a one room schoolhouse located on the Griswold Family farm. The schoolhouse still stands on the property and the farm is still worked and occupied by the Griswold family. Ruby often spoke of riding horseback to school with her Uncle Lloyd and older sister Faye. It was only a quarter mile from their home and they often had to trek through snow in the winter time. During their time at the school each child was in a different “grade”, and had 4 or 5 different teachers, including their Uncle Harry Griswold. The children in school were mostly the Griswold and Quinn family. The school went up to the 8 th grade so after her time there, she attended Belvidere High School in Belvidere, South Dakota. By 1943, Ruby was completing her first year of college at Compton College in Compton, California.

In December of 1942, the entire Quinn family moved to California. Ruby’s father took work with the Work Progress Administration (WPA) which was part of the government’s successful attempt to put American’s to work and pull the country out of the Great Depression, and her mother landed a job at the shipyard in the cafeteria. The seven of them shared a house and all worked. The working shifts were ideal as they were all able to share the two beds in the house—as some slept others worked, and vice-versa. As Betty married Calvin, who served in the military, Faye married Henry, also in the military, and Eva married Ken, the family of seven came down to a family of 4 living now in Clearwater, CA.

While her parents worked Ruby attended school earning her degree from Compton College and she also worked at an ice skating rink, Iceland, with her sisters Betty and Eva in nearby Paramount. After college Ruby remained at Iceland and became their permanent bookkeeper for the next 52 years.

In 1960 the Quinn family purchased a home in Downey, CA, bordering Long Beach, CA. However, shortly after, in 1963 Ruby’s father passed away from cancer and that left Ruby, Bonnie, and their mother at the Downey home. Bonnie left in early 1964 after marrying Earl, but soon returned to the Downey home pregnant and later in 1965 divorced. Wanda was born in December of 1964 and all 4 remained in the Downey home until 1968.

In 1968 Ruby, her mother, her sister Bonnie, and her niece Wanda moved to a home in Cerritos, CA. Ruby helped Bonnie with raising Wanda, taking her to school every morning, taking trips to Disneyland, Thompson pool, and anywhere else to keep her busy and happy. In 1982 Wanda graduated high school and left for college leaving Ruby, Bonnie and their mother, Frances at the Cerritos house. In 1989 Ruby’s mother passed away at the age of 88. Ruby and Bonnie still remained in the same house together and were joined by their older sister Faye after her husband Henry passed away in 1994. All three sisters lived together until Faye passed away in 2012. Ruby and Bonnie lived in the house for 51 years until 2015 when they moved to Apple Valley to live with Wanda, her wife Monica and their children Andre and Donte.

While working at Iceland, Ruby was more than just a bookkeeper, she was Frank Zamboni’s “right hand woman”. Not only did she handle all of the payroll, she managed the Iceland box office, sold ice time slots for skaters, managed the miniature golf course at Iceland, managed the Zamboni electric company, worked out ideas with Frank, and actually followed Frank on the first Zamboni Ice resurfacing machine down the street from LAX to Iceland in Paramount in 1949. At the age of 70, Ruby finally retired from Iceland after working there for 52 years. Frank’s son Richard ran the company after Frank passed, and Ruby became an honorary Zamboni—she was invited to every family reunion they had—and was expected to come! In a note this week from Richard Zamboni, he said, “She was always a joy to work with and I am sure she and my dad can keep things working smoothly up there (in heaven).”

Throughout Ruby’s life she has helped her family. She was always the most kind, patient, and understanding person. Her loss is felt by the entire family as she was always the person the family counted on and turned to if they needed help, or just to bend an ear. She was there for each and every one of her family and her friends, be it paying for ice skating lessons, drug rehab, college, or helping ensure her family all had a place to live, or being the executor of her best friend’s will, she was the rock and she will be deeply missed.

Ruby was preceded in death by just about everyone (except her baby sister Bonnie) because yeah she was 95.

Ruby is survived by 45000+ family members and there are so many she didn’t know all their names and if she did she changed them anyway.