This is totally incredible. Linda, thank you so much for finding us. I too can find myself near tears these days, over many things, so imagining you finding our blog and my description of the cemetery, and you holding the photo your dad sent...I can feel the rush of emotions.
These memories are soooo good: I just howled with the peas on the knife story, Nancy, and to know how that goofy father of mine came to influence ASL...I love it and I had totally forgotten. Yes, Helga yelled for dinner and Mrs. Beale had the more refined, American approach....Stan had us star gazing, and waiting for thunder: who remembers, "clap, clap, here comes, Charlie" on our front porch?
Before I go on, and tell you how much I hold dear about my childhood and our friendships, I can honestly tell you all (Ellen, Shelly & Linda in particular) that I can almost feel the pain again of saying goodbye to all of you the days before we left (Jan. 1964, we were 9). I think I somehow knew it would never be there again, and I think I knew it was near perfect -- the freedom we had to explore shaped me totally. Not just that I love cross country skiing, and all things to do with snow, or that I love meandering in streams looking for frogs and toads, or that I love being on trails, and even leaving stones as markers in hopes of someone finding me, or that I love scavenger hunts, or chasing lightening bugs, or walking on dark streets at night, or hula hooping, or having sleepovers...but that I think the fun, and adventure, and spirit we shared became who I am now: a 54 year-od still seeking fun and adventure.
I was gainfully employed and in a long career at UCSF (pediatric social work, violence prevention practitioner) until 3 years ago, when I resigned. Felt pretty ungrounded after my mom died, six months after Stan. Dan & I (both live in Piedmont/Oakand) had done some heavy duty caregiving and I needed a break. After 3 years of being mostly supported by my husband, Bill, and having the freedom to explore/ learn/ travel/ parent/ work for sensible gun laws with the Brady Campaign, I'm now back to work, at an impressive Oakland community health organization working on adolescent health initiatives. I love the Bay Area and like Meagan, am definitely well planted in CA (after leaving Chicago in '85).
So not sure we need to do a new issue of the Green Valley Gazette (was that it? it just came to me) right yet, but we could after we have a little Bay Area reunion....Meagan, on your next trip up? Shelly are you here in the Bay Area? Linda and Ellen, you could fly in...
thanks for the fun and precious memories,
joanne
ps Linda, if you can scan that photo it would be wonderful.
joanne
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wendy (Beale) Needham has a rush of memories
OK, Rubys, and everyone else in the Green Valley Drive Universe:
Meagan has been overwhelming me with these e-mails today and I just can't hold off. I was going to try to compose a very thoughtful, evocative essay, but I'm just so happy to hear (read) all of this that I have to just let it out.
Walter, Danny, Joanne: I still remember your mother standing on the front lawn, calling your names for dinner. (Our mom rang a bell.) And, I have to admit, I was always hoping I could catch your mother saying Valter, since I knew she was German.
Danny--which is how I think of you--you were my first boyfriend, back in Northway Village (do you guys remember that, before Green Valley Drive, where our parents met?) I was 4 and you were 3, or something like that, but we played together every day. And we got in big trouble once because we let a housepainter in the complex take us for a ride in his car. I think I got a major spanking for that one...can you imagine how terrified our parents must have been?
Don't know if Meagan and Joanne remember, but they had matching doll strollers, that were pink metal and made the loudest, most annoying noise as they pushed them down the sidewalks in Northway.
Then we moved to Green Valley Drive. And you guys had the COOLEST cars ever--the Beetle, the first any of us had seen, and that wonderful '57 Chevy stationwagon...it was sort of maroon and white, as I recall. One of my clearest memories of all was standing out on your back lawn one night (yours was the flattest in the neighborhood) looking up at the stars...your father had rounded us all up to watch for a satellite (was it Sputnik? or Telstar? I don't remember) passing overhead. It looked like a star--very bright--but moving fast.
Yes, there was a Green Valley Drive newsletter, spearheaded by Danny, I think, but it was the boys (Peter, Walter and Tommy Thompson) who did the reporting. I'd forgotten that until today, reading Dan's e-mail. I remember big games of tag after dinner in the summer, with the sun going down so late, and of course riding bikes, especially down that big hill that ran from the Fishers' down to our house.
As you read in Meagan's e-mail, our mother passed away in October--it was quitebsudden--and Meagan has shared with me two letters from Linda Seidel and Nancy Thompson that were such wonderful memorials to our mom. So I have been thinking about those very happy days in the late 50s/early 60s on Green Valley (oh, hula hoops and flip flops--those were firsts in those summers), and now the Rubys appear!
Thank you all for sharing (ugh, what a cliche, but I mean it), and I am looking forward to spending some time reading your family blog. Joanne, I think we were all touched by your reference to Hodel's farm, and I am glad to hear from Walter that it is still there. Remember the sheep...and remember when they fertilized the fields? Actually, I met someone from Pittsburgh recently (don't remember where, though), who also remembered Hodel's.
SO, pleasant evening, everyone, and please feel free to write to me at wbneedham@comcast.net. It goes without saying, anyone coming through southwest Florida should give us a call!
Wendy
Meagan has been overwhelming me with these e-mails today and I just can't hold off. I was going to try to compose a very thoughtful, evocative essay, but I'm just so happy to hear (read) all of this that I have to just let it out.
Walter, Danny, Joanne: I still remember your mother standing on the front lawn, calling your names for dinner. (Our mom rang a bell.) And, I have to admit, I was always hoping I could catch your mother saying Valter, since I knew she was German.
Danny--which is how I think of you--you were my first boyfriend, back in Northway Village (do you guys remember that, before Green Valley Drive, where our parents met?) I was 4 and you were 3, or something like that, but we played together every day. And we got in big trouble once because we let a housepainter in the complex take us for a ride in his car. I think I got a major spanking for that one...can you imagine how terrified our parents must have been?
Don't know if Meagan and Joanne remember, but they had matching doll strollers, that were pink metal and made the loudest, most annoying noise as they pushed them down the sidewalks in Northway.
Then we moved to Green Valley Drive. And you guys had the COOLEST cars ever--the Beetle, the first any of us had seen, and that wonderful '57 Chevy stationwagon...it was sort of maroon and white, as I recall. One of my clearest memories of all was standing out on your back lawn one night (yours was the flattest in the neighborhood) looking up at the stars...your father had rounded us all up to watch for a satellite (was it Sputnik? or Telstar? I don't remember) passing overhead. It looked like a star--very bright--but moving fast.
Yes, there was a Green Valley Drive newsletter, spearheaded by Danny, I think, but it was the boys (Peter, Walter and Tommy Thompson) who did the reporting. I'd forgotten that until today, reading Dan's e-mail. I remember big games of tag after dinner in the summer, with the sun going down so late, and of course riding bikes, especially down that big hill that ran from the Fishers' down to our house.
As you read in Meagan's e-mail, our mother passed away in October--it was quitebsudden--and Meagan has shared with me two letters from Linda Seidel and Nancy Thompson that were such wonderful memorials to our mom. So I have been thinking about those very happy days in the late 50s/early 60s on Green Valley (oh, hula hoops and flip flops--those were firsts in those summers), and now the Rubys appear!
Thank you all for sharing (ugh, what a cliche, but I mean it), and I am looking forward to spending some time reading your family blog. Joanne, I think we were all touched by your reference to Hodel's farm, and I am glad to hear from Walter that it is still there. Remember the sheep...and remember when they fertilized the fields? Actually, I met someone from Pittsburgh recently (don't remember where, though), who also remembered Hodel's.
SO, pleasant evening, everyone, and please feel free to write to me at wbneedham@comcast.net. It goes without saying, anyone coming through southwest Florida should give us a call!
Wendy
Nancy Thompson Snyder remembers pea shooting at the Ruby home
Dear Walter, Dan and Joanne,
I think about your family often because you are woven into our family's story. My husband and I are English-ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters. When I was learning the language, I had a hard time remembering the sign for "knife" (formed as the index finger of one hand runs along the index finger of the other hand).
My problem was solved by remembering a story I heard from Ellen. If my little child memory is correct, during one family dinner at your home the Ruby men (who perhaps disliked peas) put peas on your knives and shot them at each other. This is also how I taught my children to remember the sign for "knife." Perhaps not very smart, for a mother of four rambunctious boys. I have passed this mnemonic tip on to countless others. Perhaps one day your children or grandchildren will take as ASL class, and the story will have morphed into, "Let me tell you about the etymology of this sign. Unlike so many of our signs, this one does not have roots in LSF, French Sign Language. There's a story behind this one: Long ago, there was a family who didn't like peas...."
You have probably learned by now that Shelley (and her husband John, whose family moved into the Aruffo's house, just up from yours) live in the Bay Area. One of our sons, Noah, lives in Berkeley, but is finishing up his program there (and moving to NYC). I wish he could have met your Dad. (Physics was one of Noah's passions as a teenager, although he went into math.)
I have forwarded this to my brother Tom and sister Trish,
Nancy (Thompson)
I think about your family often because you are woven into our family's story. My husband and I are English-ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters. When I was learning the language, I had a hard time remembering the sign for "knife" (formed as the index finger of one hand runs along the index finger of the other hand).
My problem was solved by remembering a story I heard from Ellen. If my little child memory is correct, during one family dinner at your home the Ruby men (who perhaps disliked peas) put peas on your knives and shot them at each other. This is also how I taught my children to remember the sign for "knife." Perhaps not very smart, for a mother of four rambunctious boys. I have passed this mnemonic tip on to countless others. Perhaps one day your children or grandchildren will take as ASL class, and the story will have morphed into, "Let me tell you about the etymology of this sign. Unlike so many of our signs, this one does not have roots in LSF, French Sign Language. There's a story behind this one: Long ago, there was a family who didn't like peas...."
You have probably learned by now that Shelley (and her husband John, whose family moved into the Aruffo's house, just up from yours) live in the Bay Area. One of our sons, Noah, lives in Berkeley, but is finishing up his program there (and moving to NYC). I wish he could have met your Dad. (Physics was one of Noah's passions as a teenager, although he went into math.)
I have forwarded this to my brother Tom and sister Trish,
Nancy (Thompson)
Walter Ruby arrives
Hi All,
Pretty amazing stuff this reconnection via Internet thing. I hadnt realized there was a Green Valley Drive newsletter. Is it on-line? I was back there a couple of years ago on a sentimental visit with my life partner Tanya (who hails from Ukraine) and was delighted to see the place is practically unchanged, except that Mrs. Lawrence's woods is now a county park (which is great) and Hodels got upscaled into a horse farm--which is also great when you consider the alternatives. I live in suburban New Jersey and scratch out a living as a free lance writer-consultant, mostly on Jewish issues and on the former Soviet Union, where I lived for a while. I also dabble in bringing Jews and Muslims together for an outfit called the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6720197
As for the Bucs, Danny remained an avid fan until relatively recently; I guess I won't be telling tales out of court here that when the Pirates blew the 1992 playoffs on a heartbreaker single in the 9th inning to the Braves, he did violence to his own apartment. My own heart still bleeds for the Bucs, but being more fickle, I transferred my primary emotional connection to the Steelers quite a while ago, which hasn't turned out too badly if I say so myself. Dan and I left Pittsburgh at the age of 11 and 14 but remained loyal to the sports teams and still have a warm spot for those lovely green hills and that valiant old indistrial town fitfully trying to recreate and regenerate itself. Anyway,its amazing to hear from both of you. Megan, Ellen thank you so much for reconnecting and my best to all your wonderful siblings, assorted, husbands wives, children grandchildren, etc, etc.
Walter
Pretty amazing stuff this reconnection via Internet thing. I hadnt realized there was a Green Valley Drive newsletter. Is it on-line? I was back there a couple of years ago on a sentimental visit with my life partner Tanya (who hails from Ukraine) and was delighted to see the place is practically unchanged, except that Mrs. Lawrence's woods is now a county park (which is great) and Hodels got upscaled into a horse farm--which is also great when you consider the alternatives. I live in suburban New Jersey and scratch out a living as a free lance writer-consultant, mostly on Jewish issues and on the former Soviet Union, where I lived for a while. I also dabble in bringing Jews and Muslims together for an outfit called the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6720197
As for the Bucs, Danny remained an avid fan until relatively recently; I guess I won't be telling tales out of court here that when the Pirates blew the 1992 playoffs on a heartbreaker single in the 9th inning to the Braves, he did violence to his own apartment. My own heart still bleeds for the Bucs, but being more fickle, I transferred my primary emotional connection to the Steelers quite a while ago, which hasn't turned out too badly if I say so myself. Dan and I left Pittsburgh at the age of 11 and 14 but remained loyal to the sports teams and still have a warm spot for those lovely green hills and that valiant old indistrial town fitfully trying to recreate and regenerate itself. Anyway,its amazing to hear from both of you. Megan, Ellen thank you so much for reconnecting and my best to all your wonderful siblings, assorted, husbands wives, children grandchildren, etc, etc.
Walter
Meagan Beale checks in
Hey Dan,
This is Meagan, I have been in San Diego for more than 25 years, hard to believe, I never get back to Pittsburgh.I feel almost like a native Californian! I am a prosecutor for the State of CA. My middle daughter, Lily, goes to school at Univ. San Francisco, so I get to visit the Bay Area once in a while. Last year I was there, moving Lily, during the Bay to Breakers run, what a hoot to see all the costumes and typical San Francisco fun.
Peter is a doctor, in Texas, and Wendy was in investment banking, retired at age 51 to Florida. She undoubtedly helped with the Green Valley newsletter, as she was always a writer. My mother died just last October, at the age of 88, and my father, age 89, lives in a retirement home near Wendy.
Your festival page is so interesting, I will send it along to some of my friends who enjoy music!
Meagan
This is Meagan, I have been in San Diego for more than 25 years, hard to believe, I never get back to Pittsburgh.I feel almost like a native Californian! I am a prosecutor for the State of CA. My middle daughter, Lily, goes to school at Univ. San Francisco, so I get to visit the Bay Area once in a while. Last year I was there, moving Lily, during the Bay to Breakers run, what a hoot to see all the costumes and typical San Francisco fun.
Peter is a doctor, in Texas, and Wendy was in investment banking, retired at age 51 to Florida. She undoubtedly helped with the Green Valley newsletter, as she was always a writer. My mother died just last October, at the age of 88, and my father, age 89, lives in a retirement home near Wendy.
Your festival page is so interesting, I will send it along to some of my friends who enjoy music!
Meagan
Dan recalls Green Valley newsletter
Wow! Hello to Ellen and the whole Green Valley universe. Thanks for finding us. I'm sorry that the Ruby family blog has been on hiatus for the past six months. I've been fully focused on my main web publishing project at http://www.festivalpreview.com. It just occurred to me that my very first publication was a Green Valley Drive newsletter that we put out for probably two issues. Does anybody remember that? I think there may be a copy among our mother's papers.
I've added Joanne and Walter to the cc list. Meagan, you're in California? Joanne and I are both in the Bay Area.
Beat 'em Bucs. Yeah, right.
Dan
I've added Joanne and Walter to the cc list. Meagan, you're in California? Joanne and I are both in the Bay Area.
Beat 'em Bucs. Yeah, right
Dan
Ellen Thompson Little is next
I'm guessing from the Ruby family blog that I'm emailing Dan. My name is Ellen Thompson Little & I'm hoping you will remember that the Thompson clan (Tom, who was friends with Walter, Trish, myself, Nancy & Flip) lived in the first house on the right on Green Valley Drive. Linda Seidel Herman, who lived across the street from your Green Valley house found your blog & forwarded the link to Meagan Beale, Shelley Fisher Chesley, my sister Nancy Thompson Snyder & myself. Sounds like quite an amazing historical search you & your siblings are doing. I would love to have Joanne's email address, if that would be possible.
Blessings - Ellen
P.S. Tom & I came to visit your family at your Glen Ellyn IL home. It is one of my fondest childhood memories!
Blessings - Ellen
P.S. Tom & I came to visit your family at your Glen Ellyn IL home. It is one of my fondest childhood memories!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Dan Ruby replies
Hi Linda, Delightful to hear from you. I also have strong memories of that time and of the fun I had with your brother--you mention igloos, but there was a treehouse and mini golf course. Did he go into construction or engineering? I'm copying Joanne with your blast from the past. Yes, it was Penny.
All my best, Dan
All my best, Dan
Linda Seidel Herman connects with Ruby Family blog
Dear Danny-
My father just sent me an old photo of my ? 8th birthday party, Joanne was sitting on my left, Shelley Fisher on my right.... Meagan Beale, Nancy and Ellen Thompson were all there. I began to think about Joanne as I do from time to time and found your family blog (hence your email). I was reading thru Joanne's portions and found her Oct 20, 2006 entry. I must confess that I am still weeping as I just read about your parent's final resting place and her references to Hodil's Farm and Green Valley Drive.
The memories of our childhood are so powerful that I still dream about being in your house. My strongest memory of you was an igloo that you and my brother David built during one of our "snow days".
Before I become overly maudlin, I will end here for now. Would you be willing to forward my email to Joanne so that we can re-connect?
PS Was your dog's name Penny?
With fond memories-
Linda Seidel Herman
My father just sent me an old photo of my ? 8th birthday party, Joanne was sitting on my left, Shelley Fisher on my right.... Meagan Beale, Nancy and Ellen Thompson were all there. I began to think about Joanne as I do from time to time and found your family blog (hence your email). I was reading thru Joanne's portions and found her Oct 20, 2006 entry. I must confess that I am still weeping as I just read about your parent's final resting place and her references to Hodil's Farm and Green Valley Drive.
The memories of our childhood are so powerful that I still dream about being in your house. My strongest memory of you was an igloo that you and my brother David built during one of our "snow days".
Before I become overly maudlin, I will end here for now. Would you be willing to forward my email to Joanne so that we can re-connect?
PS Was your dog's name Penny?
With fond memories-
Linda Seidel Herman
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