Ruth Leamer Cushing

RUTH LEAMER
CUSHING

Feb. 21, 1929 - Sept. 21, 2013

Ruth Leamer Cushing, loving Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Sister and longtime Elementary School Teacher, passed away peacefully Sept. 21, 2013, in Escondido surrounded by her family. She was 84.
Ruth was born in Washington D.C., on Feb. 21, 1929, to U.S. Navy Medical Corps Commander Robert R., and Faith B. Leamer. She and her family moved to various stations including Manila, Philippines, Charleston, S.C., and Memphis, T.N., during her Father's military career in which he served as a surgeon on the U.S.S. Charleston. He passed away in 1943. The family settled in San Diego in the 1930s in the Kensington Heights neighborhood where Ruth grew up as the oldest of three children. She graduated from Hoover High School, and San Diego State College in 1950, where she earned her Bachelor's Degree and was a member of the Chi Theta Sorority. She taught elementary school for 32 years in Colorado, San Diego, Palm Springs and El Centro, where she taught two years at De Anza and 22 years at Lincoln elementary schools.
In 1956 she married John Roy Kellogg, son of Dr. John O., and Virginia Kellogg of San Diego. They had three children, Marga, Kendrick and John, and after time in Palm Springs and the Mojave Desert, settled in the Imperial Valley in 1969. While raising her family, Ruth continued her education and in 1985 received her Master's Degree in Education with an emphasis in reading from United States International University. At the same time she obtained a Reading Specialist Teaching Credential from the State of California.
Ruth was a charter member of Delta Kappa Gamma, and was honored by the Imperial County Reading Council in 1992 as Reading Teacher of the Year. She was also honored by Delta Kappa Gamma in 1993 as a Southern California, Area XVI "History Maker." Ruth retired in 1995, and is remembered by one of her principals as "a wonderful lady as well as a skilled teacher. She exhibited that rare blending of professional expertise and a living example of what we all wanted our kids to become. I never worried about placing children in her class because I knew they would all be cared for and loved. Her room was one of those that I could visit when I was having a bad day, spend a few minutes, and come away with a renewed positive feeling."
In addition to teaching, Ruth loved using her hands, and created beautiful quilts, counted cross stitch, afghans and blankets. She was accomplished in watercolor and oil painting, and loved travel and the arts, including opera and theater.
She divorced in 1998, and in 1999 Ruth married her college sweetheart, U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Francis "Frank" Cushing, turning her first love into her everlasting love. They lived in San Diego and traveled extensively, including trips to Asia, Europe and the Caribbean.
Ruth is survived by her brother, Robert R. Leamer Jr. and his wife Michaela of Los Angeles; sister, Carol Leamer Phillips of Encinitas, and children Marga Kellogg Cooley and her husband Christopher Cooley of Arroyo Grande, Kendrick F. Kellogg and his wife Tammi Kellogg of Escondido, John O. Kellogg and his wife Dawnetta Simpson-Kellogg of Florence, Arizona, and Edith Elizabeth Cushing, of Greensboro, N.C. She is survived by four grandchildren, Cara Kellogg Cooley, Johnathan Kellogg, Samantha Kellogg and Daniel Simpson; two step-grandchildren, Savannah Gore and Jerehmy Dalrymple; a great-granddaughter, Evelynne Simpson Kellogg; three nieces, Jennifer Phillips, Michele Leamer, Kari Taylor and a nephew, Robert Leamer III.
Interment will be held at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, and Ruth's life will be celebrated on Nov. 2 during an Open House Memorial at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park from 1 to 4 p.m.