BARRHEAD – Ruby Hoag will be celebrating entering the centenarian club when she turns 100 years old on Jan.30.
“I was a bush baby from north of Barrhead,” said Hoag.
Hoag is sharp, sweet, and her smile lights up a room like a ray of sunshine.
When asked what her secret was to be able to get to 100 years old Hoag said, “luck” with a chuckle.
She has been an influential powerhouse in the community with her years volunteering with 4H and her 17.5 years with the Versatile Choir, touching the lives of so many in the community.
Hoag came to the Barrhead area with her parents by horse and wagon when she was three years old to settle on her grandfather’s homestead 13.5 miles northwest of Barrhead.
The first school she attended was in a grainery and then a log cabin school was built a mile and a half from her farm.
Hoag was working at the university hospital at 19 years old and loved it but was enticed to join the military.
Her face lit up when she talked about her military service with the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in Prince Rupert where she got to go on a ship.
Hoag was stationed with 128 other girls who distributed supplies to the hidden soldiers along the ocean’s coast working in a store setup.
“The U.S. were afraid of the Japanese,” she almost whispered. There were close to 13,000 troops around Prince Rupert.
She was in service for two years, earning her first stripe quickly, and was ready to receive her second strip when the war ended.
Hoag would have loved to go overseas but she was not yet 21 years old and was denied in her requests.
Hoag is extremely grateful for her time in the military and their support through her whole life.
She started smoking in the army and smoked for 16 years.
She wrote home through the war and in her father’s letters to her he talked about the neighbour man who was working the land and helping out.
Hoag met her future husband, the neighbour her father wrote about, when she came back from the war.
She went to work at Woolworths in the jewelry department and bought household necessities like towels with her wages.
Hoag dyed her military uniforms and used them as work clothes at Woolworths.
She got engaged and married Edward, 11 years her senior, on Nov. 7, 1946.
He was a hard worker and broke 600 acres for himself and neighbours with his tractor.
Hoag’s smile grew as she talked about their arguments.
She goated Ed and loved to argue saying she didn’t know what she was talking about half the time but got pleasure for how frustrated he got.
Hoag loved jam and Ed didn’t and that seemed to be a source of friction for them.
They lived in a garage while Ed built their house.
Hoag’s smile warmed when she talked about her children.
Her eldest daughter, Elenor, was born two years later and her son, Garry, arrived five years after that.
Her youngest, Teresa, was born seven years after Garry.
With Teresa being so much younger Hoag wanted playmates for her youngest, so she signed up for foster care to care for a child about the same age as Teresa.
She was given two girls to care for at first and then a third girl was taken in, all sisters.
Hilda (4 years old), Valerie (5.5 years old) and Doreen (8.5 years old) stayed with her until graduation.
Hoag has a special fondness for her daughter-in-law Debbie, who runs the original homestead farm.
When she volunteered with the 4H Hoag made it her mission to raise the importance of public speaking and was often a judge in the competitions.
One of her 4H crew actually got on TV and sang.
Years after her husband passed Hoag met a new dear friend. They were travelling companions visiting Yuma Arizona by RV for ten years.
She was part of the Versatile Choir for 17.5 years, sharing her love of music and her lovely voice with others.
Hoag lived at the Jubilee Manor for 25 years and she loved living there.
While she was there, she set records with the number of crocheted slippers she made to send to the less fortunate.
Her highest count for one year was 414 pairs of slippers.
Hoag commented that her memory wasn’t so good, but she recalled milestones in her life with great exactness.
She has some mobility challenges now but that has not diminished the light inside her nor that fantastic smile.
