Her family moved to the South Bay in Southern California when she was 11. She and Carl Green met in Chemistry class at Redondo Beach High School and were married in 1952. They remained a devoted couple their entire lives, raising four children and ten grandchildren together. Carl and Ruth loved traveling and often vacationed in Mexico, where they collected beautiful artisan paintings and pottery, and bravely took all four (very young) children on a sabbatical to Spain and Europe in the mid-1960s.
Ruth believed her calling was to brighten any corner of the world where she found herself. She cared for her extended family and friends with an endless supply of love and grace. Always creative, Ruth used her broad range of interests to reach out to others – square- ballroom- and clog- dancing; teaching piano; quilting and crafting, often with her Piece and Plenty quilting group; floral arrangements; and repairing library books. She was a devoted “Red Hatter” and often quoted the Jenny Joseph poem, “Warning” (When I am an old woman I shall wear purple…) Ruth adored stories and storytelling, and she passed on her love of books to her children and grandchildren. Mom, known as “Grammy” to the grandchildren, was the center and bedrock of our family. She leaves an eternal light shining for her friends, her neighbors, her descendants, and all who knew her.
While Mom loved flowers, we feel that donations would best honor her memory by helping to perpetuate the organizations she loved and served: