Ruby Abbott

Ruby (DeMunn) Abbott of Lompoc, CA, aged 101, passed away peacefully at home from natural causes on December 14, 2024. Ruby was born on June 3, 1923, in Belvidere, IL, to Emmer DeMunn and Harriet Mitchell.

Ruby married her high school classmate, Ensign Myron "Bud" Abbott, USN. She had an adventurous life as a Navy wife. "I loved being a Navy wife as we traveled around the United States from one duty station to another. We had many opportunities to visit National and State Parks and other interesting places," Ruby once said. Their adventures spanned seven different states and took them overseas to the Philippine Islands, where "Bud," then a Lieutenant, was stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Sangley Point with VW-3 Det. A VQ-1 squadron in the 1950s. Ruby had particularly fond memories of living in the Philippines and later Japan. During their travels, she became a mother to three children: Bruce and Brian Abbott, and Judy Carney. She lives on in our hearts through her daughter, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Ruby and the "Ferret Flyers" families co-authored a unique book, "Living With The Shadow Warriors." The authors were women who, as Navy wives over sixty years ago, had accompanied their U.S. Navy officer husbands to duty stations in the Far East.

"Not known to the wives at the time, the Squadron was one of the first in the Navy charged with collecting intelligence along the territorial periphery of nations potentially hostile to the United States. Thus, in hindsight this group of brave and unknowing wives can be identified among the first 'heroines' of the Cold War." -Rear Admiral Donald "Mac" Showers, USN-Ret

It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our beloved grandmother and one of the last members of the truly Greatest Generation.