My mother Ruth, a long-time special education teacher with Bedford Junior High School who retired in 2004, left this physical Earth on April 21 after battling lung cancer. She was with her daughter at the time of passing.
Ruth was a loving mother, wife and daughter. She was born in Youngstown, Ohio, on November, 1, 1945, the only child of loving parents Anna Mae and Frank, though she grew up and remained close with a large group of cousins who served as siblings throughout her life. Her father worked for a railroad company as a brakeman and her mother worked in retail; both also worked in local schools. Ruth always wanted to be a teacher and attended Youngstown State University and The University of Toledo to fulfill that goal. She loved her job as a special education teacher and helping students achieve clarity and success. She often said it felt good to have a student express that feeling of learning math and watching them make that connection of a+b=c. She also loved reading, working on any kind of puzzle and sewing; she often made baby quilts for friends and donated hand-made quilts to charities and strangers in need.
Ruth married David in 1978, after meeting him at a high school graduation party the year before. The two had two children together before going their separate ways more than a decade later. Ruth went on to marry her soulmate, William "Bill" Schick, a quiet soul and retired veteran and bricklayer, and the two remained happily married until his passing in 2016.
Ruth was raised Catholic and continued to have a strong faith in a loving, powerful and merciful God throughout her life, while still opening herself up to other viewpoints. She was a proud member of the inclusive Vatican II Eucharistic Community in Toledo, which welcomes people of every religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and race.
In the last months of her life, Ruth moved to Austin, Texas, to live with her daughter, and was able to see her son and cousins one last time just before the country shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. She hoped the pandemic would bring humanity together and show us that we should not fight each other; we have bigger problems to solve and everyone needs to work together to move forward. Preparing to leave this world, Ruth made the decision to donate her body to science and medicine; she will be working with scientists at the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to further help humanity however she can.
Ruth is survived by her daughter, who must be nameless, and her son, Matthew, 36, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; as well as many loving cousins spread throughout the United States, including Connie; Michael and Barbara; David; Nancy and Dick; Margie and William; Donna, Michelle and Daniel; Mary Lou; Susan; Harry and Sandy; Karen and Ron; Barbara and Gary; Bill and Alice; and many other friends and family.
Ruthie during her farewell party with some of her cousins.
