Ruth E. "Ruthie" Gillard

GILLARD, RUTH E. "RUTHIE", Age 93, of Winter Park, died Saturday, June 24th from complications following a stroke she suffered on May 24th. Ruth was born to William and Lillie Gillard in Pittsburgh, PA on August 1, 1912, the year of the Titanic. The youngest of five children, Ruthie came of age during the Great Depression and learned to drive before she was 15 years old. Both before and after she graduated from high school, Ruth worked alongside her father in his Used Hardware, Second Hand and Antique Store on Carson Street on the South Side of Pittsburgh. She knew hardware and tools as well as any man and eventually served a brief stint as a "Rosie the Riveter" in California. Following the death of her father, she returned to Pittsburgh and took the over the store where she remained for several decades. Ruthie was a natural salesman and loved repartee and camaraderie with her customers and neighboring business owners. The South Side was a rough area, home to more bars than stores and the steel mill crowd was rough and attracted rougher. Assailed once in the shop by a strong arm robber, Ruthie foiled her attacker, then plead for the man's life as a nearby barkeep and friend threatened to throw the hooligan into busy Carson Street traffic. The barkeep relented and the man went to the pokey rather than to meet his maker. Though she owned and ran the store for decades she never installed a telephone there. People who needed to reach her simply called the Chinese Laundry next door to the store. Ultimately, the neighboring Iron and Glass Bank purchased the store from Ruth and razed it to create a larger parking lot. Though not even 5 feet tall, Ruthie was full of life, very active and fun loving. She was an avid Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers fan and even attended the World Series, generally walking to attend most of the games she saw in person. For years she was a real "rock hound" spending some vacations digging and mining for opals, geodes and other treasures of the earth. Other passions for Ruth included bingo, casino gambling, and reading a good book. Her appetite for books was voracious. Never married, with no children of her own, Ruthie simply had a way of becoming the "favorite relative" of every family, endearing herself to generation after generation of extended family. Everyone clamored for her attention and eagerly awaited any visit from their favorite aunt. Though Ruth never spoiled or indulged herself in any way, she was generous to a fault. There is no accurate way of knowing how many loved ones aspirations, needs or dreams Ruthie financed - secretly or overtly - from Hawaiian honeymoons, to college educations, to down payments on homes. Her pleasure came in giving to those she loved or to those in need. Ruthie retired and moved to Winter Park in 1982 saying she had long since shoveled enough snow to last her a lifetime. Ruth became a volunteer for several organizations. She served thousands of hours as an auxillian with Winter Park Memorial Hospital, manning the cash register and sales floor at the White Elephant Thrift Shop. "No" was a word that rarely worked its way into Ruthie's vocabulary. Whenever a co-volunteer needed a substitute to work a shift, Ruthie could be counted on to step in. Thus, she often worked as many as five days a week. She also donated her time to the New Leaf Bookstore at the Winter Park Library and to the Cottage Thrift Shop across from the former fire department in Winter Park. Ruthie absolutely adored animals and children. It was a very lucky cat or dog indeed that came to be under her auspices. She concocted her own dog food recipe and prepared the food herself for years. One of her cats (Jose) lived to be almost 20 years old. Until her passing Ruthie's first morning chore was feeding peanuts to the squirrels in her yard. Ruthie was proud to have a standing date for a BBQ lunch on her 100th birthday in 2012 with the doctor who diagnosed her with colon cancer in the early 90's. Dr. Straker, Ruthie is very sorry to have to stand you up. But you can be sure she will look you up on the flip side. Survivors include: brother, Harlan Gillard and niece, Lois "Jeanie" Breznai, Struthers, OH; her nephews, William H. Gillard, Newport Beach, CA, Jerry (Patsy) Houze, Natrona Heights, PA, John (Elaine) Houze, Rushville, IN; niece, Shirley (Richard) Marshall, Mapleton UT; great nieces and great nephews, Scott, Danny and Brian Houze; Alan (Barbara) Marshall, Ridgecrest, CA; James (Melba) Marshall, Hoover, AL, Stephen (Terry) Marshall, Mapleton, UT, John (Lynn) Marshall, Las Vegas, NV, Tina Hazel and Sherry (Marlin) Kelly of Payson, UT, Bonnie Ferguson and Beth Ferguson, Winter Park, William I. Ferguson, Atlanta, GA; as well as others whom she dearly loved. A memorial event will be planned for a future date. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in Ruth's memory to either The Winter Park Public Library, 460 E. New England Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789 or The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, 3705 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2583. Checks should be made payable to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.