As the product of an interracial liaison between a "feisty"
white woman and a biracial man at the beginning of the
Depression, Ruth J. Waters was reared by a strong black woman
activist and educated in the segregated educational system of
Oklahoma. Even as a child Ruth never considered that one could
choose not to fight injustice whenever and wherever encountered.
After her first marriage and two children, she entered a
Nurse Training Program in the third integrated class at the
University of Oklahoma. Ruth was the first female to host a
radio show in Oklahoma City. She moved to Chicago long enough to
remarry and have another child before the family moved to
California. Her activism and community involvement continued in
California as she challenged local School Boards, served as den
mother, Girl Scout leader, a Big Sister, and was an active
member and fundraiser for the Pasadena NAACP during the Civil
Rights Era. Being of the "old school," a generation of local
youth "feared" and loved "Ms. Waters"...and knew she genuinely
cared. Having begun her career as a nurse, Ruth worked with the
Los Angeles County Probation Program and retired as head of the
Pasadena branch of the Employment Development Department's
Summer Youth Program.
A true Renaissance woman, she bred Great Danes and showed
them all over the country. She was a self-taught auto mechanic,
seamstress, computer and stock market novice, an official rescue
person for the Kennel Club, and taught her grandchildren to
swim.
Ruth knew that a meaningful life demanded that you be true to
yourself, and be willing to grow and change. In 1986, Ruth
co-founded the National Black Gay & Lesbian Leadership Forum and
served as its co-chair for six years. Prior to that, she served
on the Board of Connexxus for two years. In 1995, she became the
first recipient of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's LACE (Lesbian
and bisexual women Active in Community Empowerment) Award-for
Outstanding Contributions as a Grassroots Activist. As a
founding member of Investors Unlimited, Ruth served the club as
vice-president and became its president in February of this
year. Continuing her lifelong commitment of service, Ruth became
a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), where she worked for
the well being of abused and neglected children in the
Dependency courts of the County of Los Angeles. At the Pasadena
Church of Religious Science, she was a member of the
Toastmasters Club, volunteered in the Computer Lab and enjoyed
attending church with her granddaughter Robin.
A true fighter, Ruth was a survivor of both breast and
cervical cancer. Having lost her last battle with cancer, Ruth
unselfishly donated her body to UCLA for medical research and
organ transplant. She often joked that there would probably be
nothing left for them to use. Yet, shortly after her Sunset, her
corneas were transplanted giving two individuals the gift of
sight.
She is deeply loved, and will be dearly missed by all whose
lives she touched. She leaves to carry on her legacy, her son
Victor, daughters Chiquita and Tami, her grandchildren Sean,
Lamar, Astral, Alafi, Gillian, Jamila and Robin, five
great-grandchildren and hundreds of women and men from all walks
of life who have been impacted by her power, her tenacity, and
her love.
One very close to Ruth recently remarked that "she was one
hell of a woman, and a magnificent mother."
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