Ruth Ellen Rogers — daughter, sister, wife, aunt, worker, storyteller, family news line, and a woman remembered with love.
A Kentucky Beginning
Ruth Ellen Rogers was born September 2, 1927, in Menifee County, Kentucky, the daughter of Matt Rogers and Hazel Robbins Rogers. Her original birth record gives her name as Rutha Ellen Rogers, one of those small details preserved on paper that carries us back to the very beginning of her story.
She grew up as part of a large Rogers family whose ties stretched across Kentucky and, in time, into Indiana and beyond. Brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, and later generations would remain an important part of Ruth's life for nearly nine decades.
Ruth's original physician's birth record, naming her
Rutha Ellen Rogers.
Birth record photographed by cousin Sheryl; physician’s record books preserved by cousin Ruby.
Ruth during her school days, 1937–1938.
Growing Up Among Her Own
The photographs left behind show Ruth not as a name on a family chart, but as a young woman surrounded by the people who knew her first. There were brothers Garnett and Ishmael, sister Gertha, cousins such as Susie Rogers and Anita Harris, and many others whose lives remained woven into hers.
Ruth as a young woman.
Ruth with her cousin Susie Rogers.
A Young Bride
On March 20, 1945, seventeen-year-old Ruth married John Harrison Rayburn in Clark County, Kentucky. Like many chapters in a long life, theirs did not last forever. After a number of years together, the couple separated, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1954.
The records tell us when that chapter began and ended, but they cannot tell us every conversation, every hope, or every disappointment that belonged to the people who lived it. Those things remained Ruth's own.
Ruth with her first husband, John Rayburn.
A family photograph from Ruth's Rayburn years.
A Working Woman
Ruth worked during years when factory and manufacturing jobs were an important part of life for many Indiana families. An employee identification card survives from her time at the Cuneo Press.
Later, she worked at Delco Electronics in Kokomo. Her obituary remembered that she retired in 1991 after twenty-one and a half years of service. She also worked for a time at Windsor Estates nursing home and, during several Christmas seasons, rang the bell for the Salvation Army.
Ruth's employee identification card from the Cuneo Press.
Ruth during the years when work, home, and family filled her days.
A New Chapter with Bob
In May 1955, Ruth married Bob J. Horner in Miami County, Indiana. With Bob came another long chapter of ordinary life — the kind that rarely makes newspapers but often becomes the part a family remembers best.
Marriage record for Ruth Ellen Rogers and Bob J. Horner, 1955.
Ruth and Bob Horner.
Some of my strongest memories of Aunt Ruth are not tied to a courthouse record at all. Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob would come and pick up my brother and me for the weekend. We went to auctions with them, wandered through antique stores, went out to eat, and sometimes went shopping.
Those weekends were simply part of life then. At the time I doubt any of us stopped to think that years later those ordinary outings would become some of the memories worth holding onto most.
Ruth and Bob — one of the many ordinary moments that became part of the family album.
Ruth with Bob Horner and her brothers Ishmael and Garnett Rogers.
Family Ties
Family was never merely a list of names to Ruth. She was sister to Garnett, Ishmael and Gertha; cousin to Susie and Anita; aunt, great-aunt, and eventually part of a sprawling younger generation that grew up knowing exactly who Aunt Ruth was.
Her obituary described her as the family's hotline — a wonderfully fitting description for a woman remembered for knowing the family news, keeping people connected, and passing along whatever needed to be known.
Ruth and her cousin Anita Harris, sitting together on the steps.
Ruth with her great-nephew Jeremey.
Ruth and Bob with her parents.
Ruth with her brother Garnett Rogers.
Peaches, Green Beans & the Front Steps
The things I remember most are sometimes the smallest. I remember helping Aunt Ruth clean and cut up peaches and break green beans for canning. I remember sitting on the steps with her.
There was nothing remarkable about those moments when they happened. There was work to be done, vegetables to prepare, jars to fill, and people talking while their hands stayed busy.
But years have a way of teaching us that these were the important things. Not grand occasions. Not ceremonies. Just being together.
Some memories do not announce themselves as important when they are being made. They simply wait quietly until years later, when we realize how precious they were.
Television, Laughter & General Hospital
Aunt Ruth could also settle in and watch television with us, and there were plenty of old favorites. I remember My Favorite Martian and Uncle Martin, Bonanza and the Ponderosa, The Rifleman, Jerry Lewis movies, Laurel and Hardy, and more than I could ever list now.
And then there was General Hospital. That was her soap opera. 😁
Those old programs are tied to her in my memory almost as closely as the auctions, antique stores, canning, and weekend visits. Sometimes a television theme song, an old movie, or the sight of a jar of peaches can bring a person back for just a moment.
Sheryl Remembers Aunt Ruth
Cousin Sheryl remembered Ruth as far more than an aunt. From the time she was little until she was a teenager, Ruth often watched her, and Sheryl came to think of her as a second mom.
Some of those memories could only belong to Aunt Ruth. There was the day on Superior Street when she chased a giant rat off the front porch with a broom. As Sheryl remembered it, things did not go well for the rat.
Ruth also let Sheryl help peel potatoes for the first time. Ruth and Arlinda had paring knives, while somehow Sheryl ended up with a much larger knife. That poor potato never stood a chance.
Another time, Ruth walked all five children down to the doctor's office when they developed a rash. The cause turned out to be something none of them would have expected: they were allergic to Silly Putty.
Sheryl also remembered riding a bus or trolley with Ruth in downtown Kokomo, traveling to Kentucky with Ruth and Bob a few times, and taking countless other trips around Kokomo. Every one of them seemed to become an experience.
Soap Operas, Pepsi & a Record Player
As Sheryl got older, Ruth's soap operas became serious business. Ruth would sometimes send one of the children to the gas station for a Pepsi while she settled in to watch her shows. Years later, Ruth would deny ever having been a Pepsi drinker and insist that she had always preferred Coke.
One year Sheryl received a portable record player and proudly played her favorite records on it. One afternoon, however, the music interfered with Ruth's television shows. Sheryl was sent outside to sit on the front step with the record player plugged into the outlet beside the door.
Apparently even that was too loud. Ruth unplugged it and locked the door until her shows were finished.
It is funny now. Sheryl did not think so at the time.
Tommy
Then there was Tommy, Ruth's beautiful white Persian cat. Ruth doted on him, took him riding in the car, and always seemed to have another Tommy story to tell. After he was struck by a car and needed a pin placed in his hip or leg, Ruth carefully hand-fed him chicken picked from the bone and kept everyone updated on his recovery.
Of all the animals Ruth loved over the years, Sheryl remembered Tommy as something especially dear to her.
Long Talks & a Kentucky Visit
After Sheryl's mother passed away, Ruth would call and talk with her for hours, much as she once had with Sheryl's mother. Those long conversations became memories Sheryl treasured.
Later, when Sheryl and her husband lived in Kentucky near Mammoth Cave, Ruth wanted to come for a visit. They drove to Kokomo to pick her up, and she stayed with them for about a week.
They took her to souvenir shops and other stores, to a large flea market in Bowling Green, and to the Walmart in Elizabethtown. Ruth loved that Walmart because, as Sheryl remembered, it was so big. She shopped for clothes and other things for her nephews Buck and Nathan, whom she spoke of often.
For Ruth's birthday, they took her to an Oriental restaurant in Leitchfield. In the dim lighting, Ruth accidentally put ketchup on her salad instead of dressing. She was not about to waste a perfectly good salad, though. She ate it anyway.
After the week with Sheryl, they drove Ruth to Hopkinsville to visit her niece Rose and family. Ruth bought Kentucky Fried Chicken for everyone, and they settled in for a good family visit.
At some point, one of Ruth's nephews was lying on the floor because his back was hurting. Whatever was said next apparently gave Ruth an idea.
She sat on him.
Fortunately, somebody had a camera.
Aunt Ruth having a little fun during the family visit in Hopkinsville.
Memories shared by cousin Sheryl.
Wit, Spunk & a Soft Spot for Critters
Ruth's obituary captured her in only a few words, but they were good ones. She was remembered for her wit and spunk, for being loving and caring, and for keeping the family connected.
She also loved feeding and watching the birds and squirrels around her home. Apparently they were well aware of the arrangement, because the obituary noted that they were fed very well.
That little detail may say as much about Ruth as any official record could. She noticed the creatures outside her window, she kept track of her people, and she made room in everyday life for both.
Ruth's smile — and perhaps a little of that famous spunk.
Ruth in later years.
A Long Life, Still Part of the Family
Ruth lived to be eighty-eight years old. She died January 29, 2016, at her home in Kokomo, Indiana, and was buried at Sunset Memory Gardens.
By then she had outlived many of the people who had shared her earliest Kentucky years. Yet she left behind photographs, records, family stories, and generations of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews who could still say, "I remember Aunt Ruth."
Ruth's obituary remembered her wit, spunk, family devotion, and love of feeding the birds and squirrels.
Ruth E. Rogers, Sunset Memory Gardens, Kokomo, Indiana.
The records give us dates. The photographs give us faces. But the peaches, the green beans, the auctions, the old television shows, the weekends away from home, and the sound of family news traveling from one person to another — those are the pieces that make Ruth's story live.