Ruby Hooper

Ruby T. Hooper, who made history as the first woman to run for governor on a main party ticket and who served as North Carolina's Mother of the Year in 1993, died Friday, Oct. 12, at Memorial Mission Hospital in Asheville after a brief illness. She was born Oct. 5, 1924, in Saluda, a daughter of the late Walter Lee and Lessie Mae Pace Thompson, and retired there in 2001 with her husband, John, her husband of 61 years. She had spent most of her professional career in Morganton, where she served as food services director for Broughton Hospital for 29 years. Following her 1941 graduation from Saluda High School, where she was class president and salutatorian, she attended Mars Hill College for two years and received an associate's degree. She then transferred to Woman's College (now UNC-Greensboro) where she received her B.S. degree in home economics with a major in institutional management. The same year, 1945, she began work as an assistant dietitian at Broughton Hospital, the state's largest psychiatric hospital serving 35 western counties. She also worked at the School for the Deaf in Spartanburg, S.C. and at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Oteen. Returning to Broughton Hospital in 1953 as food service director, she additionally was responsible for the nutritional care for patients at Western Carolina Center (now the Riddle Institute). In this role, she supervised some 160 employees who prepared 10,000 meals per day, including 700 specialized diets. She was affectionately known as "Mother Hooper" for her nurturing and compassionate relationships with patients and fellow employees alike. Following her retirement from Broughton Hospital in 1982, she then worked as chief dietician at Grace Hospital in Morganton. She served as chairman of the Burke County Republican Party and in 1982 she ran an unsuccessful campaign for the N.C. House of Representatives' 47th District. In 1984 she was the first woman candidate of a major party to run for governor. She was defeated by U.S. Rep. Jim Martin in the May primary, but following Martin's gubernatorial victory that November, she was appointed liaison between the Governor's Office and state employees in western North Carolina. The following year, she was appointed deputy secretary of the N.C. Department of Human Resources. She resigned this position at the end of June 1991 to seek once more the nomination as the Republican gubernatorial candidate; she lost to the eventual nominee, Lt. Gov. James C. Gardner. On the state level, she served as chair of the N.C. Committee on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and as a board member of the N.C. Caring Program for Children, which provides health and preventative care insurance for children of the working poor. She also served as secretary on the Governor's Advisory Council on Aging. She received numerous honors throughout her life. In 1984 she was named the Burke County Woman of the Year and in 1987, she received the Humanitarian Award from the Western North Carolina Chapter Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association in recognition of outstanding advocacy for older North Carolinas. She also received the 1987 Alumna of the Year award at Mars Hill College, the 1990 Governor's Community Service Award from Hope Haven of Raleigh, and the 1991 award from the N.C. Community Action Association for distinguished service to the poor and disadvantaged. In 1993, she was recognized as the North Carolina State Mother by the N.C. State Mothers Association. As a dietitian, she received the Distinguished Service Award in 1978 for a non-member from the N.C. Public Health Association, Member of the Year award in 1979 from the N.C. Dietetic Association, of which she also served as president, and the North Carolina's Dietitian of the Year award in 1980 from the Southeastern Hospital Association of Dietitians. During her career years in Morganton she served in various capacities in the Burke County unit of the American Cancer Society, Burke County chapter of the American Diabetes Association, N.C. Council of Women's Organizations, Women's Forum of North Carolina, the County League of the N.C. League of Women Voters, Burke County Chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons, Burke County Chamber of Commerce, Morganton Community House and Morganton Business and Professional Women's Club, and was awarded the North Carolina Long Leaf award by the governor. Additionally, she wrote a column on nutrition for The News Herald. An Episcopalian, she was a Sunday School teacher, advisor to the Young Churchmen and lay reader at Grace Episcopal Church in Morganton. In recent years she has been a member of the St. Luke's Traditional Episcopal Church in Landrum, S.C. Throughout her life she was known as a woman of high energy, unyielding optimism, great faith and personal caring. In 1946, she married her childhood sweetheart, John O. Hooper, a lawyer and retired Merchant Marines ship's captain. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her daughter, Dr. Elizabeth Hooper Jackson. Survivors, in addition to her husband, include a grandson, Daniel F. Jackson Jr. of Carrboro, a granddaughter, Katie Jackson Budris of Arlington, Va.; and a number of nieces and nephews. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the family plot at Friendship Baptist Church in Saluda with Father Fred Holck and Dr. George Jones officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave., New York, NY 10065. An online guest register can be signed at www.mcfarlandfuneralchapel.com.