I am Ruth’s sister-in-law Vi Maeers. I was married to Ruth’s brother Don who died in 1988. We lived in the NWT for a number of years and would visit Ruth in the summer and often at Christmas when we came “down south.” It was always so much fun being at Ruth’s house. The food was amazing, Ruth would entertain on the piano, and we would sometimes go to the basement when her husband John had the most amazing sound system and there we would listen to classical music. She had lots of plants by her living room window and throughout the house and she kept an amazing garden. I was quite envious of that garden as we didn’t have one for a long time in the NWT. Ruth was always happy to see us and would often invite her sons and their families to join us for dinner when we visited her home in Calgary. I moved to Calgary in 1989 with my 2 daughters, Esther and Stephanie. We lived in Calgary for 3 years and during that time we saw more of Ruth, but then we moved to SK in 1992 and we only were only able to see her once or twice a year. She always sent a Christmas letter with lots of details about what was going on in her life and the lives of her children. I learned a number of things about Ruth yesterday when Steve spoke about her life. I didn’t know she made cards or explored her family tree. My daughters loved to visit Aunt Ruth as she had a huge house with lots of places to hide and toys left over from when her children were little that my girls found and would play with for hours on end. During the last few years we haven’t heard much from Ruth as she wasn’t able to make contact with us and we didn’t go very often to Calgary. But we remember very well the wonderful times we had together. Thank you Ruth for your gift to my family. We will kiss you a lot.
