Dorothy Brooks Ruffing

Debbie grew up in Houston, attending Roberts Elementary School and Pershing Junior High School before graduating from Bellaire High School in 1959, where she was the Bugle Major in the Bellaire Belles during her senior year. She attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, graduating in 1963 with a bachelor’s in political science.

She then went to New York City where she arrived on a Tuesday and met her future husband, Gregory Ruffing, on Friday of the same week. They were married a year later, and in 1965, they started their family and moved to Houston. Greg was the center of her life for 53 years until his death in January 2017.

Debbie worked as a part-time bookkeeper for many years and, almost without exception, had the good fortune to work with people of high integrity who also became lifelong friends. However, she always considered herself first and foremost a homemaker for her husband and daughters, providing them a safe haven from the world.

Debbie was preceded in death by her husband, Greg; her parents Wilson Watts Brooks, Jr. and Lucile Geddes Brooks; and her sister, Beverly Jean (“Beegie”) Brooks Hughes. She is survived by her daughters, Elizabeth Ruffing of Houston, Texas; Jennifer Ruffing Paisley, husband Bryan and their two sons, Ethan Brooks Paisley and Miles Sebastian Paisley, all of Petaluma, California.

Her daughters are deeply grateful for the loving and consistent care Debbie received from all of her caregivers during the last five years of her life, especially those at The Reserve at Braeswood as well as the peace and comfort she received from the nurses and staff with Choice Hospice. Finally, her daughters are thankful for the education, support and fellowship they received through Amazing Place, Houston.

The family will gather for a private interment at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.

Friends are cordially invited to a Celebration of Debbie's Life at two o'clock in the afternoon on Friday, the 25th of September in the grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests memorial contributions be directed to the Texas Heart Institute, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center or Amazing Place, Houston by visiting the links below under "Donations".

We invite you to take a few moments to share memories and words of comfort and condolence with her family by selecting the ‘Add a Memory’ icon under the 'Show your Support' section below.