Joyce Cotton Ruby

1937 - 2024

Joyce Cotton Ruby

November 27, 1937 - January 9, 2024

Carmichael, California - Joyce Cotton Ruby of Carmichael passed away peacefully the evening of January 9, 2024 at age 86. She was born November 27, 1937 to parents Perry Everingham Cotton, MD and Evelyn Fisher Cotton in Elwood, Indiana. She grew up with six sisters in the large home originally built by her paternal grandfather, Carroll Cotton, MD, in Elwood, and spent many happy summers with her maternal grandmother at the Fisher family farm in Wolcott, Indiana. She graduated from Wendell Wilkie High School in Elwood in 1955.

She met the love of her life, Earl Campbell Ruby, Jr. of New Castle, Pennsylvania, while both were students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. They were married September 14, 1957. Just nineteen years old, she left college for a new chapter in life as a military wife. Many years later, while living in Ohio, she completed her bachelor's degree at University of Dayton in 1971.

As the wife of an Air Force officer and mother of three children, she lived in nine states and Taipei, Taiwan. She served as Sunday school teacher, Girl Scout leader, and English tutor for a group of Chinese adult students before moving to Carmichael in 1972. In Carmichael she served as PTA president of Will Rogers Middle School, deacon of Carmichael Presbyterian Church, and leader in the American Field Service and Youth for Understanding organizations.

Traveling with her husband was her greatest joy, and together they traveled throughout the world. In their later years, they began to prefer road trips in a small motorhome, and together they visited many national parks in the western United States. She always encouraged young people to travel and see other places.

She enjoyed cooking, cultivating roses, and playing bridge with friends. In her younger years, she enjoyed sewing and made beautiful dresses for her daughters. She will be remembered as a devoted wife, encouraging mother, and loyal friend. Her strength of character, her vitality, and her conversation will be missed by all who knew her.

She is survived by her husband Lt./Col. Earl Campbell Ruby, Jr. (USAF, retired) of Carmichael, daughters Cynthia Ruby Kerwin and Carol Ruby Maibach and son Earl Campbell Ruby III, two granddaughters, and one great-granddaughter, all of the San Francisco Bay Area; sister Marilyn Etchison of Hampden, Maine, and many nieces and nephews in the Midwest and Northeast.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Joyce Cotton Ruby's name may be made to Children International.