My Grandma Ruby

Picture of Grandma Ruby in 1924 when she was 19 years old.

My Grandma Ruby was born in 1905 in Denison Iowa, her mother died when she was just a baby. After her mother died she went to live with her grandma. She was raised on the family farm, grandma Ruby's older sister Ruth (she was only just a few years old when their mother died) went to live with an elderly aunt. Their father was not able to raise two little girls (a baby and a toddler) and work all on his own.

He separated them because the grandmother and the aunt were both elderly and their father did not think one on their own could handle raising two very small children. When the girls were in grade school their father had remarried and got the two girls back. The two girls ended up really liking their step mother a lot, I guess it may have been because they never really did have a chance to get to know their mom.

My grandma's name before she was married was Ruby Reed. Donna Reed from the Donna Reed show (back in the 50's) and my grandma were actually cousins. Donna Reed was born and raised on a farm in Denison just down the way a bit from where my grandma grew up.

The picture of my grandma that I am holding was taken just before she went to business/secretary school in Chicago and she was going to be turning 20 years old soon. Right away after leaving her small home town for the big city she had her hair bobbed. In the picture above she used to roll it up in a fake bob, she had very beautiful chestnut colored hair with copper highlights, it was very long and extremely thick.

My grandma was a clothes horse just like me (loved, loved, clothes!) and when she went off to school her dad and step mother gave her a check book for food, bills, and etc. The first thing she did was by a new outfit (a walking suit, perfect for business attire and for attending school in). She kept on writing checks until there were no more. Then her dad and step mom asked her what was going on and she told them, she thought as long as there were checks there had to still be money....hehehe. Funny grandma! It would have been so cool to have known her back then, she was young and beautiful. She was in her 20's in the 1920's!