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Ruby Duval Obituary
LEOMINSTER -- Dr. Ruby J. (Kemp) Duval, 94, died Sunday, June 27.
She was born on Aug. 25, 1909, the daughter of John and Ruth (Rosenstihl) Kemp, in Croswell, Mich. She was one of nine children.
She married Robert B. Duval on Sept. 28, 1928. They were successful restaurateurs in New Baltimore, Mich. They had two children, Larry R. Duval of Leominster and Jerrine Peters of Cape Coral, Fla.
In 1946, Ruby and her husband moved to Davenport, Iowa, to attend the Palmer School of Chiropractic, from which they both graduated in 1948. They established and operated a very successful chiropractic clinic in Phoenix, Ariz., for 14 years until the untimely demise of Robert on April 6, 1962.
Besides her husband and herself, chiropractic has been a moving force in her family. Her sister Margaret, her son Larry, her daughter Jerrine, and grandson-in-law Craig, have all achieved the status of doctor of chiropractic.
Dr. Duval is survived by one sister, Ella Schroeder of Port Huron, Mich.; her son, Dr. Larry Duval and his wife Caroline, of Leominster; a daughter, Jerrine Peters of Cape Coral, Fla., her five grandchildren Anthony Carr of Omaha, Neb., Larry R. Duval of Winchendon, Shane Duval and Kevin Duval both of Leominster, and Kim Duval LaDue of North Fort Myers, Fla.; nine great-grandchildren; six great-great- grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Dr. Duval was an influential businesswoman and family matriarch and will be genuinely missed and loved for generations to come.
DUVAL -- On June 27, Dr. Ruby J. (Kemp) Duval, 94, of Leominster. At Ruby’s instructions, there will be no calling hours. Cremation will be handled by the Silas F. Richardson & Son Funeral Home and interment beside her husband, Robert, in Michigan will be at the discretion of the family. A memorial service will be announced at a later date.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Ruby Duval
LARRY DUVAL II
July 19, 2004
Dearest Grandma, We will miss you a great deal! I remember when I hung out with the Ducharme's and we would hunt for pigeons and come home with them and you would prepare them for meals. Also, bull frogs we would catch and eat the legs. You were involved with my parents to teach us survival and what life is all about. I would love to go to your house with all my friends for an adjustment. And I remember when you and your sister Margaret would take us camping and leave us Aunt Margaret's Red Convertible!! That was great!! I'll sure miss you Grandma. I Love You, Your Oldest Grandson, Larry XXXOOO
Marry Duval
July 19, 2004
DEAR GRANDMA, THIS IS MARY (YOUR OLDEST GRANDSON'S WIFE). I HAVE BEEN IN THE DUVAL FAMILY SINCE I WAS 15 YEARS OLD. THAT'S 36 YEARS, 32 YRS. MARRIED TO LARRY. I HAVE SO MANY WONDERFUL MEMORIES TO LOOK BACK UPON. I REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST MET YOU, YOU LIVED ON ARLINGTON ST. IN LEOMINSTER, WE HAD THANKSGIVING DINNER OVER TO YOUR HOUSE AND YOU TOLD US YOU WERE MOVING TO LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. YOU SEEMED TO LOVE IT OUT THERE. YOU MUST HAVE, YOU STAYED THERE FOR OVER 20 YEARS. YOU MADE ALOT OF GOOD FRIENDS OVER THE YEARS. DOING YOUR CHIROPRACTIC WORK AND ALSO DOING REAL ESTATE WHICH YOU WERE VERY SUCCESSFUL AT BOTH. YOU WERE ALSO CLOSER TO YOUR DAUGHTER JERINE AND GRANDSON TONY, WHICH MADE IT NICE. I HAVE SO MANY GREAT MEMORIES OF ALL THE PARTIES AND GET TOGETHERS WITH THE FAMILY. ALSO, MARCO ISLAND WHICH IS PARADISE ON EARTH! WE HAVE HAD SO MUCH FUN WATCHING ALL THE KIDS GROW UP INTO RESPONSIBLE ADULTS. ALL THE FUN THE KIDS HAD GROWING UP WITH ALL THEIR COUSINS, NOW THEY ARE HAVING CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN. IT'S ANOTHER WHOLE GENERATION COMING UP. KELLY, LACEY & MISSY WILL NEVER FORGET THEIR TRIP TO MARCO WITH YOU. YOU WANTED THEM TO PLAY CARDS AND ALL THEY WANTED TO DO WAS GO TO THE BEACH! THEY SAID IT WAS PRETTY EXCITING JUST DRIVING IN THE CAR WITH YOU! ALL IN ALL, I THINK THEY HAD ALOT OF FUN. I REMEMBER YOU HAVING SOME BEAUTIFUL COLLIES AND OF COURSE JASPER & SKEETER. WHEN YOU MOVED BACK HERE TO LEOMINSTER IT WAS NICE TO SEE YOU MORE OFTEN. I LOVED LISTENING TO YOUR STORIES. THEY WERE SO INTERESTING. YOU HAVE LIVED SUCH A FULL LIFE. ALL THE FISHING & HUNTING YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND BOB DID. THE CHIROPRACTIC CLINIC IN PHOINEX, ARIZONA, THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS YOU OWNED. MOST IMPORTANT YOU HAD A WONDERFUL SON, LARRY SR. WHO IS MY FATER-IN LAW. WHO MARRIED CAROLINE JOYAL (MY MOTHER-IN LAW), TOGETHER THEY HAD A GREAT SON, LARRY II, WHO IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE AND MY HUSBAND. TOGETHER WITH THE REST OF THE FAMILY, KEVIN & GLADYS, SHANE & JEAN AND KIM & CRAIG AND ALL THE KIDS WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY GOD TO HAVE HAD SUCH A WONDERFUL FAMILY. EVERYONE ENJOYS BEING TOGETHER AND GETS ALONG AND IS ALWAYS THERE FOR EACH OTHER THRU THICK AND THIN. THATS WHAT MAKES A GREAT, STRONG FAMILY. I HAVE BEEN BLESSED TWICE BY MY FAMILY (THE ROMANO'S) WHICH I ALSO LOVE DEARLY. MY DAD ALWAYS SAID, RUBY YOU HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HAIR! JAMIE & TABITHA AND KELLY SAID TO SAY TO YOU, THEY WILL MISS YOU AND SEE YOU AGAIN IN HEAVEN. I WILL MISS YOUR KIND WORDS AND HOW YOU LOVED SEEING MY PICTURES. HOW YOU ENJOYED THEM. GOODBYE FOR NOW AND WE WILL SEE YOU AGAIN. LOVE YOU ALWAYS, YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER, MARY xxxooo P.S. GIVE MY MOM & DAD A BIG KISS & HUG FOR ME IN HEAVEN! THANKS!
Larry Duval
July 19, 2004
Dearest Grama:
We will miss you a great deal. I can still remember when the Duchame boys would visit you with me.
We would go out to hunt pigeons, and come back home with them for you to prepare for us to eat.
We have also learned from you how to catch large bull frogs and have fried frog legs for dinner.
After we were done that we would line up for adjustments. You and Dad were the best.( Chiropractors).
I can also remember the times you and Aunt Margret use to take us camping with the red convertible.
drop us off and say "have fun kids"
I have wonderful memories that will last me a life time.
Love you
Your oldest grandson.
Larry Duval 11
michael laDue
July 11, 2004
Dear Great Grandma,
It is very hard for me to know that you are gone. I actually got to know you pretty well when you moved to Leominster. I used to love going to your home and making dinner for the two of us.(even though I made quite the mess) We would sit and talk and watch all those old westerns you loved so much.I will really miss spending those times with you and even Skeeter. I know you went directly to heaven and I also know you are much happier now. I love you Grandma and will see you again someday.
Love,
Michael
michael laDue
July 11, 2004
dear great grandma,
It is very hard for me to know that you are gone. i actually got to know you pretty well when you moved to leominster. I used to love going to your home and making dinner for the two of us.(even though i made quite the mess) We would sit and talk and watch all those old westerns you loved so much.i will really miss spending those times with you and even skeeter. I know you went directly to heaven and i also know you are much happier now. I love you gramnda and will see you again someday.
love,
michael
Kim LaDue
July 9, 2004
Dear Grandma,
I do not want to do this - to say good-bye to you - to never see you or hug you again - to never see that gentle smile and knowing face gazing back into mine. My sadness is great and the tears don’t stop, but in all of this, is the knowledge and realization that you are at peace in the most beautiful place. I know that you are with Grandpa, as you told me you would be again some day. I reluctantly pass you from my embrace to his, for I know that he will hold you dear again after all these years, as I have. The sadness today is mine, but my tears are dried by the memories that keep swirling about in my head. I thank God for each and every one. So Grandma, you will forgive me if I do not want to do this - to say goodbye - instead I choose to remember.
I Remember…
* as a little girl we would sit together in ‘your chair’ and watch television.
* the many hours you spent teaching me to play canasta and then you taught my friends too. You loved a good game of canasta! You taught me the value of competition.
* the time you wanted to talk to me about ‘the birds and the bee’s’. I value every minute of our talks, from mundane to serious.
I Remember…
* how upset I was when you told the family that you were moving to Nebraska. You gave me comfort telling me no matter how far apart we were, I would always be "Grandma’s Girl". I always have been and still am "Grandma’s Girl".
* when you came to visit every Christmas and summer we shared my bedroom. I treasure those memories even if you did hate the type and volume of my music.
I Remember…
* the Christmas that Craig and I became engaged and you wanted to buy my wedding dress. It was beautiful wasn’t it Grandma? I have the picture of me pinning on your corsage - you looked so proper and classy, but you weren’t stuffy, as I can verify by the picture of my brothers pulling you along in a line dance at the reception.
* in between all the visits were the many letters and phone calls. You always had something positive and uplifting to say. I always felt so reassured after talking to you.
I Remember…
* how happy I was when you moved back to Massachusetts and lived down the street. Now my kids would visit with you and you taught my daughter Lacey to play canasta. And how you loved to feed Kevin and Michael!
* how you would call me at work and if I was in a meeting you would tell them to be sure I stopped by your house to pick up supper, because I worked too hard and that it was about time they hired some more help for me. It didn’t matter where I worked or what my position was - in your mind the place would fall apart without me.
* how close you got to Craig and how you had to schedule all your appointments around his day off so he could take you. You thought the world of Craig, as he did you.
I Remember…
* how much you loved your gardening and would constantly send me seeds and cuttings from your garden.
* the special shamrock plant you gave me, admonishing me to care for it well because it originally came from Grandma Kemp. That plant has flourished and I have started dozens of plants from it for family and friends.
I Remember…
* your pride and your dignity and your class. That is one of my favorite descriptions of you - a ‘lady of class.’ I hope we all inherit these qualities from you.
So Grandma, I choose not to say goodbye because that would just be unbearable. Instead I choose to celebrate your life with memories. The most important of all memories, and the best, are the times when it would be just you and I, whether chatting and visiting, or just sitting together, and you would look over at me with that gentle smile and say, ‘I love you, you know’. I’ll treasure that memory the most, because above all Grandma, ‘I love you too, you know".
Love and Memories Always -
Your Grand-daughter,
Kim
Jerinne Duval Peters
July 8, 2004
July 8, 2004 To My Dear Mother, You lived a long and good life, bestowing joy, health and happiness in abundance to whomever you happened to be with at the time. Now you are with the Lord and my Dad, your husband, who have waited a very long time. The many who sorely miss you must now be consoled onlyby the fact that you are at peace and by the warmth of their memories of you. Your daughter loves you. Jerinne Duval Peters Cape Coral, Florida
Michael Spadafora
July 5, 2004
Dear Aunt Carol,Uncle Larry and Family,
So sorry to hear about your loss. Our prayers and thoughts are with you.
Love,
Michael & Tina
Dr. Larry Duval
July 4, 2004
Loving son with grand memories of my growing up years. Will miss you a lot but know you will be with all the loved ones who left before you.
Being it is 4th of July I keep thinking of how you loved our family trips to Marco Island & the beach & fireworks.
Love your son Larry
Kevin Duval
July 4, 2004
Dear Gramma,
I love you very much. I have many memories of our camping and fishing adventures. Thank you for that. I will miss you very much. Love Kevin
Gladys Duval
July 4, 2004
Dear Gramma,
I met you late in life, however, I enjoyed hearing the stories of your life during the times we spent together. I will miss you.
Anthony Carr
July 2, 2004
My maternal grandmother was a remarkable amalgam of contradictory traits.
She was gregarious and liked by all sorts of people, yet she never remarried after losing her 52-year-old husband, Robert.
She was proper but not prudish.
She was, above all, pragmatic and down-to-earth, but when she felt a charm offensive was called for, she could write and speak with exquisitely diplomatic persuasion. It was like watching Katharine Hepburn go from biting the head off a snake to charming one.
"You're not getting older, you're getting better" was a slogan once pitched to women "d'un certain age" by advertisers to get them to buy cosmetics, or "my little jars of hope" as Estee Lauder once said.)
In my grandmother, an advertising lie became the truth. She went from dowdy and plump in her youth to stylish and attractive as a mature woman. She looked better in her 50s and 60s than she ever had before.
By the time I knew her, Grandma knew exactly how to pose for a picture -- not as an expression of vanity, but as a gift of cooperation to the lens.
Once, when gardening during a sweltering Nebraska day, she discovered me and my camera (actually, my grandfather's 35mm Mamiya, which she gave me) rudely verifying on Kodachrome the fact that Grandma, like everybody else, looked like hell digging in the dirt in August.
But instead of shooing me off, she deliberately made a bad situation absurdly worse by screwing her face into The Mask Of The Gargoyle. She wouldn't take herself seriously enough to be vain, and I have the slide that proves it. (It's next to the one of her impishly giving a tame blue jay a sip of her scotch and water on my mother's deck.)
The story that secretly made me proudest of my grandmother was one she indignantly told me about the wife of the patriarch of Lincoln's most prestigious advertising agency, with whom she had lunched at the country club. Said person was offended by the fact that some black guests were in the pool.
My grandmother responded in what I'm sure was the same impatient and annoyed expression she used in retelling the story to me.
"Well, you know Harriet, it [skin color] doesn't come off."
In other words, with one tossed-off comment, she
1) Chastised her friend without alienating her;
2) Undermined her friend's stupid racism by trivializing it in a way she could understand (You have to speak to children in their own language, after all); and
3) Made it clear that such talk would never find a sympathetic audience in my grandmother.
That's a lot to do in just eight words.
I'm fairly smart, but our grandmother had a reservoir of native intelligence big enough to drown us all.
Kevin LaDue
July 1, 2004
Dear Grandma, I am honored to be part of your family. If it was'nt for you I would not be here. Thank you for all the loving and amazing memories you have left us with. I will miss you very much and hope to again be with you one day. You are an inspiration to us all.. All my love and prayers are with you. Love little Kevin.
Mel and Erma Kelley
June 30, 2004
We were so glad to be able to meet you. You have a wonderful son and daughter-in-law. May you rest in peace and know that we will see you some day. You have fought the good fight. You are blessed to have so many loving family members and friends. You are in our prayers.
Love, Mel and Erma
David & Celeste Johns
June 30, 2004
Larry & Carol & Family
Celeste and I send are best to you Larry and to your Family.
Dave
Lisa Belanger
June 30, 2004
I'm sorry to learn of Gramma's passing, she will be missed. I feel blessed in having the opportunity to get to know her over the years.
Craig LaDue
June 29, 2004
Daer Grandma,
I hope that you are at peace and finally in the hands of your divine maker. You must be overfilled with joy to be with all of your family that was waiting for you in heaven. Please know that you will truly be missed and that you will always be in our minds and hearts. Please watch over and protect all of us who remain behind and wait to see you again in the beauty of heaven.
Love always your grandson,
Craig
Robert Haase
June 29, 2004
Dear Larry:
We were so sorry to hear of the death of your dear mother.
Bob Haase & Bob Glick
John & Loretta Leogrande
June 29, 2004
Dear Carol & Larry:
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and all of your family at this sad time.
Our Deepest & Heartfelt Sympathy,
Loretta & John
Barbara Windmoller
June 29, 2004
Carol and Larry and Family.
So sorry to hear of your mother's death.
All our thoughts and prayers are with you. Barb and Werner.
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