Daw, Ruth

RUTH MAY DAW passed away peacefully on Sunday, February 20, 2022, at St. Michael's Health Centre at 93 years old.

On May 16, 1928, Ruth was born in Medicine Hat to Jack (John) Hulland and Helen Sneddon. She was the eldest of four children, raised during the depression and WWII on an isolated sheep farm. Her early years developed her work ethic and a keen lifelong passion for education. As young children, they had jobs during lambing and shearing. The children learned by correspondence, attending school only in the winter months. Her family homestead in the British Block district was expropriated in 1941 to become part of the Suffield Military Base. She lived this work ethic and shared it with her children and grandchildren, almost always positive and supportive.

Ruth was proud of her accomplishments in life, including being awarded the Governor General's medal for honors in grade nine, receiving her B.A/B.Ed from the University of Alberta in 1950, achieving her Masters in Counselling from the University of Calgary in 1973 and several educational diplomas while teaching.

In 1950, Ruth was employed by Lethbridge School District #51, teaching French and Phys-Ed at Hamilton Junior High and later as a guidance counsellor and teaching those with learning disabilities. Marriage in 1953 to C.E. Clifford Daw in Lethbridge, followed by the birth of their three children, saw her take ten years off from teaching. She raised her three daughters (Carolyn, Evelyn, and Lorraine) always encouraging them to higher learning. Ruth returned to teaching in 1963 until her retirement in 1989. She enjoyed singing, participating in the U of A Choir, the Lethbridge Symphony Choir, and the First United Choir.

Ruth was an avid volunteer in the Home & School associations, the Lethbridge Food Bank, the Lethbridge Exhibition Hobby World, LSCO, and the River Ridge Condo Association. Her hobbies included volunteering, playing bridge, quilting, travelling (including nine times to Australia to see her daughter Lorraine and her growing family), and researching and writing the history of the expropriated families from the British Block. She was a generous supporter of family members, the U of L art collection, Galt Museum Archives, and the Medicine Hat Esplanade Art & Heritage Centre. Ruth was always positive and supportive of anyone who worked hard and tried to better themselves. She lived by example, was fiercely independent, and lived on her own until a short illness.

Ruth is survived by her three daughters, Carolyn (Rod) Ramey, Evelyn Lyon, Lorraine Ellis; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; sister-in-law, Eleanore Hulland; brother-in-law, Don (Wilma) Daw; numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins, especially Mary Jankowiak.  She was predeceased by her husband, Cliff; brother Tom Hulland; sisters Marion Terris, Esther Klemp; and son-in-law Keith Lyon.

The family greatly appreciates the wonderful care Ruth received from all the staff at St. Michael's, Palliative Care, Community Long-term Care, and the Long-term Care units. Please make donations to Lethbridge Seniors' Centre Organization (LSCO) or the charity of your choice in lieu of flowers.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.