Ruth I. Walker, age 95, of Pompton Plains, and a former long-time resident of the Packanack Lake section of Wayne, passed away peacefully on Saturday, January 14, 2017.

Ruth was born in the Ridgewood section of Brooklyn, NY and moved as a young girl with her parents and her older sister Mildred to Belleville, NJ, where she spent her childhood and graduated from Belleville High School in the class of 1938. While in high school Ruth was an enthusiastic member of the French Club, the Riding Club and the Debate Club and was Editor-in-Chief of the school’s yearbook. She received a scholarship to Upsala College in East Orange and graduated in 1942 having studied to be an English teacher. She quickly concluded during practice-teaching that a teaching career was not for her!

Ruth joined the American Red Cross in 1944 but was told she was too young to work in a hospital (her notes read “never again too young!”). After training in Washington, D.C., she went overseas in 1945 first to Naples and Como in Italy and then to Tehran to support the Persian Gulf Command (a service command of 30,000 men that supplied the Russian army). In Iran she learned that camels spit! She worked in a recreation center at the headquarters in Tehran before being assigned to a hospital in Khorramshahr (you’re not too young to work in the hospital if they need you). Her notes indicate that she wrote letters for hospital patients, arranged picnics and dances and was the disk jockey for the post radio station. She simply fell in love with this job! When the war was over Ruth returned home to Belleville and fell in love again – this time to a young man named Alfred Walker. They met on a blind date and exchanged vows on Saturday, November 4, 1950 in an intimate wedding ceremony at the manse of Fewsmith Memorial Presbyterian Church in Belleville, NJ. The service was officiated by the Reverend Dr. James K. Morse and Ruth wore a royal blue velvet dress with matching hat. A celebratory reception followed at the Marlboro Inn in Montclair.

The newly married Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Walker lived with his parents in Belleville while they worked on weekends and in their spare time to build a new house at 72 Lake Drive East in Packanack Lake. Meanwhile, Ruth continued to work at DeWitt Savings and Loan in Belleville while Al worked at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It took a few years but the exciting day came in 1953 when they moved into their new home. There, they raised two dear daughters and built a lifetime of married memories together which included a myriad of community activities. In the early 1970s, Ruth returned to banking and worked at Columbia Savings & Loan in Pompton Lakes and Wayne until 1986. After Al passed from Alzheimer’s in 1981, Ruth remained in the home they’d built until 2001, when she moved to the newly-opened Cedar Crest Village in Pompton Plains. She loved living at Cedar Crest and recommended it to all her friends! While there, she learned to tap dance with the Cedar Crest tappers and performed in several talent shows. She also served on several Cedar Crest committees over the years.

The consummate loving wife, mother, grandmother and sister, Ruth was a dedicated homemaker and a born volunteer who, in addition to the American Red Cross, dedicated thousands of loving hours to many organizations of mercy including the Packanack Community Church, Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Parsippany Troy Hills, and Healing the Children. In recognition of her efforts, in 2006 she was awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.

The Greystone Park Association was founded in 1948, dedicated to augmenting services provided by the State of New Jersey for the hospital patients. They provided admission packets, clothing, grooming items, games and books to patients throughout the year and a personal gift for each patient during the holiday season. An annual Fall Festival was their most ambitious fundraising project. Ruth volunteered with the Association for many years and served as President from 1971-1973.

Ruth volunteered with Healing the Children, Midlantic Chapter, for approximately 20 years, primarily focusing her efforts on working with the organization’s team that provided critical medical care to children from third-world countries by flying them into the U.S. and providing much-needed operations by surgeons and others who donated their services. Ruth coordinated a vast network of flight attendants to accompany the children while flying home after recuperating with foster families. When she moved to Cedar Crest Village in 2001, it didn’t take long for Ruth to make many dear friends and to encourage those friends to roll up their sleeves to sew hospital gowns and make lap desks for Healing the Children patients. At a banquet dinner in 2007, Healing the Children awarded her a citation in recognition of her outstanding service to children in need. In 2012 she was named an Honorary Trustee of the Healing the Children Board of Trustees. That year, at the age of 91, she finally recruited friends to take over her day-to-day responsibilities. A longtime member of Packanack Community Church of Wayne, she was active in the Women’s Guild and served on various committees. Always looking to help, when the Wayne area was devastated by floods, Ruth helped found the Wayne Interfaith Network (WIN) to collect and distribute food for those in need. At Cedar Crest, she set up collection baskets in several buildings to collect donated food for the Pequannock Township Food Pantry.

Ruth was always busy doing something fun or productive and helpful. She was a proud member of the American Association of University Women – a non-profit organization which advances equality for women and girls through advocacy, education and research. In her younger years, she enjoyed horseback riding and she always loved classical music. For many years she had season tickets to both the New York Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She loved the theatre and attended many plays both before and during her time at Cedar Crest. She also belonged to the League of Women Voters. An avid world traveler, Ruth enjoyed many trips to destinations near and far including Bermuda, Greece (where she sailed on a tall ship) and the fjords of Norway. She meandered through Turkey, Denmark, and Finland, hiked in Ireland, took seven Art Lovers trips to France, toured Australia and New Zealand, India, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile (including Patagonia), Italy and Russia, and visited the Dominican Republic on a medical mission with Healing the Children. Closer to home she traveled throughout the Northeast, Midwest, California and Canada. For many years she made annual visits to Florida to spend time with her sister Mildred and daughter Karen. Each year, Karen took her on a trip. Their destinations ranged from St. Augustine to Key West to Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle, and many places in between. They sailed and explored historic sites, mangrove swamps, wildlife refuges and the Everglades.

Gifted with a great personality and a heart for those in need, Ruth was a genuinely caring person who no doubt blessed the lives of countless fellow human beings. As a Cedar Crest resident, she was always one of the first to reach out to newcomers to invite them to dinner and help them feel comfortable and welcomed. As stated in God’s holy word in the Gospel of Matthew, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Ruth is survived by her two dear daughters: Nancy J. Walker (Stephen Jacobs) of NYC and Karen J. Heald of Wayne; and her cherished granddaughter Michele A. Jacobs. She was predeceased by her beloved husband Alfred in 1981 and her dear sister Mildred Abend in 1993.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Packanack Community Church.