Tuesday, April 13, 2021
I met Ruth on the same day that I met her husband, Scott. It was about 1985 or 1986, a year or two after my father's passing. I met Scott and Ruth a stone's throw from Fort Point, which is snuggled under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I walked up to Scott who was fishing 50 yards from me and introduced myself to him. He said that I looked like I was Norweigian with my blonde hair and blue eyes and light complexion. I told him that our grandmother was indeed Norweigian and grew up in Minnesota where our dad was from. Scott became my fishing partner and I'd pick him up usually from his home and I'd drive him all over California to fish and pal around with him stopping at pawn shops to see what they were selling.
My memory can't remember when Scott and Ruth moved north to Oroville from their apartment in San Francisco, but I'd drive up once a year for years to visit them both. Funny, once he moved up north we never went fishing again. I'd come up and take Ruth out to the Indian casinos since Scott wasn't a gambler. One time I had Lady Luck look in my direction and won over a thousand dollars on a nickel machine. I searched for Ruth, she was playing with a penny machine. She asked me how I was doing and I whispered in her ear that I had won twelve hundred dollars. She looked at me with an incredible look on her face and screamed Twelve Hundred Dollars. I looked around and nodded my head and said, thanks Ruth now the bad guys know what I won.
After Scott passed Ruth's life changed with a couple of strokes after that, she was living at the Nu Point of View Residential Care home, at first, I still was able to come up even though I had just gotten married.
I still came up once or twice a year for six years after I got married. My wife's life took an unexpected turn for the worse and three long years later my wife passed. After my wife passed I had no ambition to drive to visit Ruth. Instead, I'd call and just speak to one of her aides to inquire about Ruth's health. Now, I like to believe that she's finally home surrounded by her parents and those who truly loved her. I will always treasure her friendship and remember her in prayer. It seems that these days good friends are rare and are meant to be treasured whether we are together, lives apart, or in this case separated by death. I am at an age where all of my true friends are waiting for my arrival on the other side, as I too look forward to that day of love and friendship a new.
