Ruby Hayes, 86, passed away at home in Boise, Idaho on Mother’s Day, May 8. She was born in Venetia, Pa. to Charles and Alice Wardle in 1925. As a child, she attended grade school in Venetia, Pa. and graduated from Trinity High School in Washington, Pa. in 1943. On June 4, 1943, she married John Andrew Ford, Jr. in Cumberland, Md. He passed away in February of 1967. She taught kindergarten at Washington Christian School in Pennsylvania in the late 1960s.
In 1972, she moved to California and resided there until 2009, when she went to live with her daughter and husband in Boise, Idaho. In the 1970s, she worked in the office of Doctors Lindsay, Johnson and Arakelian in Turlock. She enjoyed working and helping others and enjoyed making people laugh. She liked to garden and work on her flowers. She met and married Lawrence Hayes in 1980 in Denair. She was very active in the Denair Church of the Nazarene, where she enjoyed serving as a Sunday school teacher and in the missionary society and keeping many missionaries in her home. She loved her church family both in Turlock and Boise.
She has left children, Marsha (Dennis) Sams of Boise, Idaho and Kevin (Jennifer) Ford of Turlock; step-daughters, Martha (Dale) Lundquist of Denair and Cindy (Ernie) Gueth of Tallahassee, Fla.; former daughter-in-law, Mary Jeanne Martin; 10 grandchildren; brother, Thomas Wardle of Missouri; 12 great grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Alice Wardle; both husbands, John Ford, Jr. and Lawrence Hayes; and siblings, Dorothy Smith and John C. Wardle.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18 at the Church of the Nazarene (The Connecting Point Church) at 3200 E. Monte Vista Ave., in Denair. Private interment was at Turlock Memorial Park.
Memorial contributions may be made in Ruby’s name to the Nazarene Missions International: 1308 W. Hale, Boise, ID 83706.
Arrangements are entrusted to Allen Mortuary. Please share your memories at www.allenmortuary.com.
