News

LANTANA — Edith “Edie” Hamm Ruh died on Jan. 29. She was 89 years old.
Edie Ryan entered the world Dec. 12, 1928, the daughter of Bertie and Arthur Ryan, in Washington’s Crossing, N.J. She spent a seemingly idyllic childhood chasing her two older brothers, Sensor and Jack, along Jacob’s Creek and summers camping on a family island along the Delaware River.
Always popular, quietly adventurous, painfully humble, tomboyishly athletic and naturally beautiful, the young Miss Ryan was well-liked and highly respected.
As a young teenager, she helped the WWII effort by packing parachutes for the Civil Air Patrol and climbing aboard small aircraft to help pilots spot U-boats off the coast of the Jersey shore.
She and her childhood friend Ruthie Dowdell built a tandem bicycle and took biking trips, camping along the way, as far away as to the Delaware Water Gap on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, by themselves.
After her mother and father died (far too young), Miss Ryan married Joe Hamm.
Together they built an Airstream-like trailer and took off to tour the United States. They made it as far as Briny Breezes, where they lived for several years.
Kids arrived on the scene (John “Eric” in 1951 and Tom in 1954), which meant moving the trailer to the F1 spot each summer so that the boys could live directly across from the ocean and spend their days with toes in the sand.
They eventually moved into a home made of concrete block with a pool in Boynton Beach, which provided more room for more kids (Cathie in 1960 and Karen in 1961).
The Hamms divorced, forcing Edie into the workforce full-time to raise four kids on her own. She excelled at her job starting at the recently opened Bethesda Memorial Hospital, where she studied to become one of the first intensive care specialty trained nurses in Palm Beach County. She eventually managed the critical care units.
Life took a pleasant turn when she met dentist Frank Ruh while on a cruise to Alaska with her best friend and nursing colleague, Mickey Gragg. Edie and Frank fell in love. Being that Frank was a native Californian, they moved to LaQuinta, Calif., to begin a 30-year span of love, travel, laughs and more family to embrace.
The couple resettled in The Villages for approximately 15 years before Frank’s death.
For the past several months, Mrs. Ruh had been a resident of Arbor Oaks in Lake Worth. While there, she forged friendships with ladies like herself — all independent, capable, humble and kind.
Mrs. Ruh will always be remembered for her radiant smile, natural beauty, quiet determination, kind caring and sense of personal responsibility to do what is right. She will be missed by all those who were blessed to have known her.
Mrs. Ruh is survived by her sons Eric and Tom, daughters Cathie and Karen, sons-in-law Mark Calvert and John “Zeke” Czekanski, and grandchildren Britt Calvert, Leigh Calvert, Wilson Calvert, Quinn Lowry and Kate Lowry.
Mrs. Ruh’s extended family includes the Ruhs of California and Washington, where she was known as “Lala” and “Grandma Edie” to grandchildren Emily Davenport and family, Julia Phillips and family, and Taylor Vail. Additional family includes numerous nieces and nephews in the Ryan, Davis, Hamm and VanSelous families.
Friends are too numerous to count but include fellow volunteers at The Living Desert, Cornerstone Hospice of The Villages, Operation Homebound, Operation Shoebox and members of The Villages Croquet Club.
Lastly, her dog Lilly remains behind, sad to have lost her very best friend.
Celebrations of Edie’s life will be held March 10 in Lantana and June 9 in Doylestown, Pa.
— Obituary submitted by the family