Finding Aunt Ruby

She wasn't ever lost, just to some of her extended family.

Ruby May Norquist is my aunt by marriage.  She was married to my  Uncle Chet, who was my father Henry's closest brother.

The Norquist clan was a rather wild bunch back in the day.  Grandpa Olaf immigrated to this country from Sweden as an infant in 1879.  Grandma Emma was of Norwegian descent.  Grandma was a wonderful woman, a real survivor.  She bore 13 children, raised eight of them to adulthood, lived to be 99, and survived Grandpa, who was a crotchety old Swede nobody really liked, including Grandma.

Aunt Ruby married my Uncle Chet after a failed first marriage.  She brought two children with her to that marriage.  Because they did not live nearby, I didn't know Ruby's children.  She and Uncle Chet didn't have any of their own.

I remember Ruby as being sort of quietly on the outside during big family gatherings.  She was a very devout Christian even back then.     She and my mother seemed to form a fairly close relationship, and Dad and Chet were very close.

Uncle Chet died under very tragic circumstances in 1990.  I think his funeral might be the last time I saw Aunt Ruby.  My dad died in 1996.  Mom and Ruby must have corresponded for a while after that.

In her last years of life, my mother wondered what had happened to Ruby.  Ruby was older, and often seemed in poor health, and Mom wondered if she was still living.  Mom thought she, herself,  might be the last of that Norquist generation.  

Mom died close to a year ago now, not knowing.

Then last week, I got an e-mail from my brother.  He had received an invitation addressed to our mother, Violet Norquist, and forwarded to him.  It was for Ruby May Norquist's 100th birthday!

At last, we found Aunt Ruby!  

On Sunday Tom and I went to the Lighthouse Christian Center in Puyallup, WA.  It is a big modern church complex, with lots of community action.  It appeared that the whole congregation had stayed after services to honor Ruby, who we discovered to be a true pillar of the church.

I did get a few minutes during a break in the program to talk to my aunt.  She was very pleased to see me, after I introduced myself.  I had RSVP'ed to the invitation and let the organizer know that Mom had passed away.  That news was shared with my aunt ahead of time.

 What a remarkable woman she is.  She can see and hear and think clearly and walk!  I confessed to her that we didn't think she was even still alive!  Here you see me reacting as she tells me that ten years ago she was in hospice care and not expected to live.  And the two years ago, the same thing.  I think she would tell you she prayed her death away.  She said she had quite the stories to tell.

 The program was continuing, so I didn't have long.  She said we could talk later, but that didn't happen.

 During the buffet lunch we found some of her family.  They were children and grandchildren of her two children, who were not Norquists.  We met the young woman who calls her Grandma, with whom Aunt Ruby lives.  

 Here at the table are some of those folks, related to her daughter Arlene.

Ruby blew out her candles and cut her cake.  Then there was an open mike.  I took the opportunity to share who I was and how happy we were to have found Aunt Ruby.  

We didn't get another chance to talk, and the program went on and we had to leave for another engagement.

I have Aunt Ruby's address and will send her a letter and maybe a few photos.  She wants to know about my mother, and I will be happy to share her story.  

And Mom, we found Aunt Ruby!