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)