Ruby (Stephens) Bauer, 99, devoted wife, mother, daughter-in-law and friend to all, passed away peacefully on March 17, 2021 with family at her side. Born in Wynnewood, OK, Ruby grew up in the Lubbock, TX area on a farm. She graduated from Hamlin High School in 1939 and attended secretarial school in Abilene, TX where she met Lt. Leonard G. Bauer (“Len”), whom she married in 1943. They spent the next year in Colorado Springs as he was stationed at Fort Carson, CO, where their first daughter, Sherry Ziegenbalg, was born. Enjoying the beautiful landscape, she would walk Sherry in the pram in Garden of the Gods. Moving back east to Len’s native New Jersey after the war, Ruby and Len settled in Morgan and raised the next three children, Bruce Bauer (Frances), Jamie Bauer, and Janine Bauer (Ed Lloyd), on the bank overlooking Raritan Bay in a house they built themselves, while also operating a confectionary store in South Amboy.
In 1958, Ruby, Len and family moved to Roselle, NJ where she became a devoted member of the First Baptist Church, lending her excellent Southern cooking to church dinners and eventually running a used clothing distribution operation from the church hall for those in need. She learned to golf and accompanied Len frequently on the links at Pike Brook C.C. and also earned an award or two in the ladies division. Meanwhile she worked as a full-time executive secretary to a vice-president at Louis Bamberger & Co. and at Fidelity Union Bank, commuting to Newark, NJ daily. Entrepreneurial and hardworking, Ruby and Len also managed early morning delivery routes for the Star Ledger helped by son Bruce, covering Rahway, Springfield and other Union County towns, and she attended night classes at Kean University. They had their eye on early retirement, and succeeded, first moving to Lake Worth, FL in 1976 after Len retired from NL Industries, along with mother-in-law Mary McNicoll Bauer Alberts, whom they cared for until her death in 1983. They moved to Greenacres, FL in 1989.
Tall and good-looking, Ruby had many friends; she had a warm, kind, generous spirit, always saying something that made you feel good about yourself. She enjoyed Florida’s sunshine, flora and fauna, treating her grandchildren to visits to parks, nature preserves and the beach when they visited. She was a fixture at Lake Worth’s golf course until about 75, and painted and created craft projects including a flower series and seashell and driftwood furniture. Most recently, she attended West Pines Baptist Church in Greenacres where she was a member of the ladies prayer group. Ruby is survived by her four children, eight grandchildren, Dawn Martin (Stephen), Robin Puttock (Mark), Amy Kihm (David), Megan Roesch (Andrew), Elizabeth O’ Loughlin (Steven), Alexander Lloyd and Abigail Lloyd, and ten great-grandchildren, Gretchen and Mason Kihm, Carleigh, Drew, Hudson and Jacob Roesch, Evan and Elly Martin, and Lauren and Audrey Puttock. Ruby was one of four children of John Henry Stephens and Cordelia Flood; she was pre-deceased by her sister Opal Thomas and her brother Dr. Henry Stephens and is survived by her sister Lorene Beach and very many Flood and Stephens relatives, whom she visited from time to time at reunions in Odessa, TX. Late in life she was taken care of by her devoted son Jamie, and before that, her daughter Sherry, while Ruby’s son Bruce looked after her property in Roselle for many years until it was sold.
Following services at Dorsey Funeral Home on Kirk Rd in Lake Worth, FL on Sunday March 21th, Ruby will be interred at Graceland Memorial Cemetery in Kenilworth, NJ.
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