Ruby Lee Hughes

Ruby Emily (Lee) Miller was the fourth of 6 children born to Robert E. and Zora Alice Miller in Clarita, Cole County, Oklahoma. She was a child of the dust bowl era. Her great-grandmother was a full blood Cherokee/Choctaw, and her father, who lost an arm in an accident with a gun, could do the work of two men on their farm.

After marrying her first husband, Vernon H. "Bo" Weldon, Ruby had two children, Dianna Gale, and Vernon Dale and migrated to Shafter, California. California's mild climate allowed for a long growing season and a diversity of crops, and for people whose lives had revolved around farming, this seemed like an ideal place to look for work. Baby Vernon, contracted pneumonia when he was barely 2 years old, and because the family couldn't afford to take him to the hospital, he ended up passing away from the illness.

Ruby managed to turn tragedy into triumph and became a very successful businesswoman. She was the first woman to be on the Oakland Real Estate Board and the second woman Real Estate Broker in Oakland. She traveled extensively in the 1960s and 70s to the Middle East and Europe, and especially enjoyed Israel and Egypt, in those years. Ruby was married a number of times, the last time to Frank Hughes. She and Frank rebuilt dilapidated, Victorian homes, placing them onto the National Register of Historical Places. Some of the more famous homes they completed were the Judge Palmer House and the Sam Brennan House, now a museum, both in Calistoga, CA, as well as the Ryde Hotel in Ryde, CA.

Ruby and Frank moved to Point Arena, CA, in Mendocino County, in the 1980s, and rebuilt the Victorian where B. Bryan Preserve is now located. In the early 2000s Ruby moved to Corning, CA, to be closer to her daughter, and built her last Victorian home on acreage surrounded by olive trees. Ruby finished out her final years in Chico, California.

A staunch conservative, Ruby was a feisty opponent of a more progressive political climate. She taught her family self-reliance, and she was a talented landscaper who cared about the condition of the towns and countryside she lived in. Every home that she owned was beautifully landscaped.

She is survived by her daughter, Dianna Gale (Ronald) Parsley of Red Bluff, CA, 5 grand-children; Steven James (Lynell) Allen of Dunsmuir, CA, Dawn Kathleen (Paul) Murrietta of Los Molinos, CA, David Michael (Lucienne) Allen of Gualala, CA, Dana Marie (Stephen) Grant of Chico, CA, and Curt Darren (Mary) Allen of Red Bluff, CA, as well as 12 great-grandchildren.