Ruth W Rank

Ruth Rank, affectionately known to many as "Ruthie," is best remembered by her warmth, kindness, and joyful nature. The eldest of four children born to Robert and Jessie Webster in Montclair, New Jersey, Ruth's childhood spanned the Great Depression and World War II. She remembered being raised in a home that valued honesty, frugality, and responsibility but was also full of music, imagination, games, and laughter. A self-described "romantic," as a child, Ruth often dreamed of owning a pony, starring in musicals, falling in love, and moving out West! In many ways, she achieved these dreams throughout the course of her lifetime, yet as she grew up and grew older, these dreams-come-true were more like blessings than actual goals.

Central to Ruth's life from a very young age was her Christian faith, and throughout her lifetime she sought an ever closer relationship to God. This humble worship took many forms - her daily prayers and devotions, her study of the Bible both individually and through organized courses, her love of inspirational writings on spiritual topics, her appreciation for Sunday sermons at whatever church she and Virgil attended in the many places they lived, and most importantly to Ruth, her love of music. She often expressed that her deepest experience of worship was by listening to or performing sacred music. Ruth was blessed with a beautiful soprano voice and was classically trained. She enjoyed choral singing and also performed many solos. She was also an accomplished pianist and, much later in life, was working on learning a new instrument, the recorder.

Ruth earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, a Methodist college, majoring in English with a specialty of Radio and a minor in Sacred Vocal Music. While working at the college Radio Station, she was the Director of Religious Broadcasting Activities and upon graduation in 1954, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to work at the Radio and Film Commission and Board of Education of the Methodist Church. In addition to this initial job out of college, Ruth held many jobs over the years including secretarial work for a major publisher, piano teacher, administrative assistant for a dairy farm, and manufacturing technician, however, the profession she held to be the most important, and in which she excelled, was homemaker.

In October 1958, Ruth married Virgil Rank and, as she wrote in her memoirs, "from here on my path is blended with his for life." Ruth and Virgil enjoyed nearly 59 years of marriage, living in many places including Colorado, Wyoming, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Norway, The Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Florida, and Arizona. Throughout these travels, they raised two children, David and Nancy, made numerous friends that they have kept in touch with over the years, and had many travel adventures to nearby countries (many of which even included their long-lived family dog, Tisha). In their retirement years, Ruth created numerous detailed photo albums of all the places they lived, friends who visited, and the travel trips they took.

In addition to exploring and appreciating all the places they lived, there were several areas of activity that remained constant and which Ruthie and Virg enjoyed together throughout their marriage. These included boating and swimming, square dancing, and singing and performing in local musical shows and contemporary singing groups. Particularly when the family was living in California and the children were young, Ruth and Virg would camp, boat, water ski, and swim at many lakes and national parks in the California area. Many years later, boating again became a part of their lives while visiting Ruth's parents in Florida and then later when they retired to Florida as well. Ruth and Virg enjoyed exploring the intra-coastal waterways of Florida as well as an extended trip up the Tombigbee Waterway to Tennessee and down the Cumberland River to Nashville. Swimming was always an enjoyable pastime for Ruth, whether in the lakes of New Jersey, Connecticut, or in Lake Michigan (during her childhood summers in Evanston, Illinois), as part of a college synchronized swimming team in Ohio, or amid the waves of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico or the Persian Gulf near Dubai, and most recently in the swimming pools of Sun City Oro Valley, Arizona. Square dancing started for them in Norway and was pursued most actively throughout Europe and in The Netherlands where they met their future daughter-in-law, Louisa, and her parents who remain dear friends today. Musical shows and groups included performances with the Charles Pope Choristers and the group they founded in Ridgefield, Connecticut, called "Rank and File". Ruth performed the song "Memories" from the musical CATS in Dubai and sang the part of Juno in the opera "La Belle Hélène," also in Dubai. In Florida, she was a part of the Suncoast Chorale and an all women's a cappella group called the Keynotes which performed for charity to raise money for musical scholarships for students needing support.

Another lasting passion that Ruth retained throughout her life, and which Virg fully supported, was Ruth's love of horses and horseback riding. She became an accomplished horsewoman, enjoying both the freedom of rides on back woods trails in Connecticut, New York country roads, Norway, and the dunes of Holland. She also had formal training in dressage, rode at various horse stables in each location, and participated in an intensive study course for one week in England after which she earned a Second Stage Certificate in Horse Knowledge and Riding from the British Horse Society. She rode both Western and English style and either owned, leased or regularly exercised over six different horses throughout the years. She was thrilled that this interest passed along to her daughter and her two granddaughters who have all shared "horsey" adventures with her.

Virg retired after 32 years with Conoco and they left Dubai to start their new chapter of life in Englewood, Florida. Ruth's parents had moved several years earlier from New Jersey to Englewood. Ruth continued to be in singing groups and church choir. When her parents needed assistance in their later years she was there for them. Her father passed away first and her mother followed several years later in 2004.

After moving to Arizona in 2005, Ruth came to love very much the beauty and life of the Sonoran desert and the gorgeous views of the Catalina Mountains. She enjoyed the wide open skies and would often have lunch outside in the peaceful backyard of their home in Oro Valley or tea time while looking out the picture window in the kitchen. She treasured her weekly musical practices with dear friends, remained active in the church, water aerobics, square dancing, attending concerts, and watching UA basketball with Virg, and looked forward to regular holiday visits from family. Ruth enjoyed big hugs, laughing fits or "laughie budgets" as she and her brother Don called them, visits to the library, board games and card games, scenic drives, dinners out, mother/daughter and girlfriend talks, British comedies, watching musicals or movies with meaningful messages, and quiet moments of reading and contemplation.

Ruth faced her diagnosis of advanced stage lung cancer with great courage, dignity, and acceptance. After receiving the diagnosis at the end of October 2016, she was determined to enjoy more time with her family and friends and she began to rally in December 2016 following an outpouring of their love, support, and prayers, for which she was deeply grateful. She enjoyed a resurgence of energy for nearly three months during which time she and Virg sorted out and detached from many of their worldly possessions and moved to a small apartment on the third floor of an assisted living facility where Ruth could enjoy her beloved mountain view from her favorite chair. It was facing this mountain with soft piano music playing and a gentle breeze flowing through the open window, accompanied by her loving family, that Ruthie passed peacefully to the spiritual realm to be with her Lord on Saturday afternoon, April 1, 2017.

Ruth is survived by her husband, Virgil Raymond Rank; her brother Donald K. Webster of Madison, New Jersey; her brother Walter K. Webster of Winter Haven, Florida; her sister, Barbara Irving of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey; her son, David B. Rank and his wife Louisa M. Rank of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin; her daughter Nancy S. Rank-Medina and her husband John F. Medina of San Diego, California; and her three grandchildren, Kristina Diedrick and her husband, Kyle Diedrick, of Corona, California; Monica Haworth and her husband, Robert Haworth, of De Forest, Wisconsin; and Joaquin Medina of San Diego, California.

Throughout her Christian life Ruth put God first. The following verses were her favorites which she had marked in her Bible, "The Life Application Study Bible (New Living Translation)":

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

John 14:2 "There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly."

John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

Ruth had marked this last verse with an Exclamation Point.

A Celebration of Life will be held Monday, April 10 at 3:00 PM at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 7650 N Paseo Del Norte, 85704.

Tax deductible contributions can be made in Ruth's name to Tucson Symphony Orchestra - Young People's Concerts; 2175 N. 6th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705.