“Ruthie” passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by the love of her friends and family on January 27, 2012, leaving the small gold country town of Sutter Creek, California with a little less heart, soul, humor and generosity.  Ruth was 100 years old.

Ruth was born on March 25, 1911 in San Francisco, California to Virginia Regnart Montgomery and John Montgomery.  Ruth grew up in Cupertino, California with cherry, apricot, walnut and other orchards that made up most of the San Jose/Cupertino area at that time.  Ruth was predeceased by her brother John “Jack” Montgomery and her sister Jean Montgomery Grunbaum.  Ruth was also predeceased by the two loves of her life: her beloved husband and soul mate, Francis Hale “Teddy” Jackson, and her precious daughter Andra “Andy” Jackson Fuller.  The truth is, that at almost 101 years old, Ruth outlived many of her friends, family and professional associates. However, due to her vivacious and magnetic personality, to her endless curiosity about the world around her, and to her fascination with the people she met where ever she went, Ruth left this life with hundreds of new and old friends and admirers.  Besides her many close friends, Ruth is survived by her beloved grandson, Chris Fuller, his wife Jenny, and relatives in the Montgomery, Regnart and Grunbaum families.

Ruth attended public schools in the San Jose area, graduated from San Jose State University with a BA degree, and received a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from Stanford University.  In addition Ruth studied Speech Pathology in Paris, Hamburg and London.  She  held teaching credentials for general elementary and junior high school, for Speech Arts, for School Psychologist and for teaching Speech Correction and Lip Reading.

Had Ruth followed her original passion of becoming a film actress, she would undoubtedly have won a couple of Oscars.  Instead, after teaching one year in the Albany School District in California, Ruth devoted her next 38 years, beginning in 1935, to a career in helping children with communication disorders in the Palo Alto Unified School District as the Director of the Speech, Language and Hearing Department.  Ruth was a leader in the field of speech and language therapy and was recognized for her pioneering educational achievements throughout California, including founding the California Speech and Hearing Association.  In addition to her work in the Palo Alto schools, Ruth spent five summers teaching at the University of California Berkeley, one summer conducting teacher workshops at the University of Arizona, one summer on the faculty of the Speech Center at the University of the Pacific, and two summers as a lecturer and workshop director on the islands of Maui and Oahu for the Department of Education at the University of Hawaii.  In 1973, Ruth retired from her work with children with speech and language disorders with the equivalent of an Oscar: a Resolution of Praise from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and a primary level school facility named after her, the Ruth Montgomery Jackson Hearing Center, dedicated exclusively to carry on Ruth’s life’s work and passion to help children with communication disorders function normally.

Retirement did not mean slowing down.  In March of 1991, Ruth was inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame.  Recognizing Ruth for her career in education, for pre and post-retirement achievements such as: the creation of a children’s television show dedicated to speech improvement by the name of “Say It Now” on KQED in San Francisco, the Presidency of the Friends of the Library Board in Atherton, and the establishment of a children’s section to the Atherton Library.  Ruth was named “Outstanding Citizen of the Year 1990” by the Atherton Civic Interest League.  She received a resolution of the California State Legislature citing her “38 years of service to the State of California.” Also in 1990, Ruth and Ted received the Atherton Civic Interest League’s “Good Neighbor Award” to honor their 20 years of volunteer work, including their volunteer work with the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Park Foundation, the Civic Interest League and Friends of the Atherton Library. 

Prior to moving to their home in Atherton, Ruth and Teddy lived for many years on the Stanford Campus, which allowed Ruth and Ted, with friends and family, to walk to “Indian Stadium” to watch their beloved Indians battle it out with visiting teams during home games.  During 20 years of retirement together in Atherton, Ruth and Teddy loved life and each other, appearing to all the world like a couple of newlyweds.  Teddy died peacefully in his sleep on November 2, 1993.  At Ted’s memorial, attended by a crowd of 250 of Ted’s family, friends, neighbors and former co-workers, Ruth brought a tear to every eye in attendance by recounting how her life with Ted was a “beautiful time” and that “every day was a gift.”  Ruth recounted how Teddy and she talked, on the night before he died, about their “three lives”:  the life before they met in their late 20s, their busy lives as professionals passing each other in their home on the way to their jobs, and the more than 20 years of life together spent in happy retirement in Atherton.

After Teddy’s death, Ruth, never a quitter, moved on to establish a fourthlife in Sutter Creek, Amador County, California’s gold country and home to her daughter Andra and grandson Chris.  Ruth quickly became involved in the Sutter Creek/Amador community after moving there in 1993.  Ruth was a member of the Sutter Creek Woman's Club, the American Association of University Women, and the Friends of the Amador County Library.  Ruth originated and became the driving force behind the Gold Country Book and Author’s Forum, a charitable event that invited writers to share their books with the community while raising money for branch libraries in the county.  Before and just after her 100thbirthday last year, Ruth published two books of children’s stories, A Bit of Magic With Wee Willie and Double Trouble, followed by Whimsical Whims.

Aside from her career and volunteer work, the great joys in Ruth’s life were spending time with friends and family, entertaining, reading, politics, sports (the 49ers and the San Francisco Giants), and travel with Andra, Chris and Jenny.  Ruth magnetically attracted people, and she returned the attraction with a keen curiosity about every person she met, carefully asking about, and committing to memory, the life stories of every person she knew.  There seemed to be very few townsfolk in Sutter Creek, no matter their age, who did not know “Ruthie”, or at least know the legend.  Around 4:00 p.m. on any given day, if you were lucky enough to be a Ruthie insider spending time with her in her home, Ruth would announce, “it’s five o’clock somewhere”, which meant it was time for the Ruth’s favorite cocktail, a half ounce of vodka and tonic water, and then the conversations would begin.  Ruth was famous for her generous entertaining, hosting Garden Parties, her annual Derby Day party (owing to Teddy’s roots), and her annual Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, with the famous Jackson Family eggnog always a hit.  Ruth enjoyed entertaining until the very end, hosting a party to watch her 49ers beat the Saints less than two weeks before her passing.

We will miss the love and companionship of our very special Ruth, but the beautiful flame that lit the bigger than life spirit of our beloved friend will burn on in our hearts forever.

Friends and community members are invited to attend a Memorial Celebration on March 4, 2012 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Sutter Creek Auditorium in Sutter Creek.  In lieu of flowers, donations in Ruth’s honor may be made to the Amador Community Foundation “Andra J. Fuller Memorial Scholarship” at www.amadorcommunityfoundation.org.  For questions regarding the memorial, please contact Ruth’s grandson, Chris Fuller, via email at flashtawny@yahoo.com.

Obituary compiled and written by Dan Grunbaum, Ruth's Nephew.