Ruth Anne MacDonald Blake

Ruth Anne was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada on September 10, 1920 where she attended public school and Mount St. Bernard Ladies' College. She graduated from the Montreal General Hospital School of Nursing in 1944. After serving in the Royal Canadian Navy, she received her undergraduate degree from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec in 1948. Ruth Anne later received her Masters Degree in Nursing from Boston University and at that time began her long career in teaching at the University of Vermont in Burlington. While teaching at the University of Vermont, she met her late husband, Frank, and moved back to Montreal and then later to Houston. Ruth Anne taught nursing for over 35 years, primarily at Texas Woman's University in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, where she retired at age 70. She then consulted in the home health care industry after her retirement. Ruth Anne was an avid volunteer. She contributed her time at the operating room desk at Methodist Hospital and St. Vincent de Paul in Sugar Land, Texas, where she resided for the majority of her years in the Houston area. Ruth Anne was a member of St. Michael Catholic Church.

Ruth Anne is survived by her two sons, Peter Alan Blake of Houston, Texas and Stephen Francis Blake of Atlanta, Georgia; her brother Joe MacDonald of Montreal, Quebec; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her late husband Francis Joseph Blake; brothers James MacDonald, Leonard MacDonald, and Leo MacDonald; sisters Alice MacAdam, Mary McLernan, Hilda Hunter, Claire MacNeil, and Marguerite MacLellan; and parents John Angus MacDonald and Margaret Purcell MacDonald.

Sincere appreciation and gratitude are passed along to the wonderful people at Brookdale Independent Living Galleria where she resided for eight years. In particular, thanks go out to Tracy Ahrens and Trubal O'Dowdy who are gracious members of the Brookdale Galleria community and, along with her neighbors, were special friends of Ruth Anne during her years there.

A memorial service and mass in memory of Ruth Anne will take place at 10am on Thursday March 31, 2016 at St. Michael Catholic Church, 1801 Sage Road, Houston, Texas 77056. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to The Society of St. Vincent de Paul through St. Michael Catholic Church, 1801 Sage Road, Houston, Texas 77056 in honor of Ruth Anne.