Crown Heights
100 years young!
Doff those birthday tiaras and put your hands together for Ruth Josefa Jones McWallace. Our pal Ruth celebrated the big “100,” with daughter Patricia Biggs, son Vincent McWallace, and lots of friends on Jan. 28 at the New York Congregational Nursing Center.
Not snow, nor sleet, nor freezing weather could hold down this celebration of the century, and the room was roasty-toasty with warm wishes on this auspicious day.
“Ruth is an amazing woman” said Celia Zuckerman, president and chief executive officer of the center. You ain’t kidding.
Ruth was born to Ferdinand Jones and Mary Horace in 1914 in Fort Greene. Ruth was in fourth grade, when, sadly, her dad died, and she was forced to leave school to take care of her siblings while her mom ran the family candy store.
Ruth worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, met and married her husband Vincent, and then worked at Kings County Hospital and raised her family in the borough she was born in.
She was a community activist, too, and volunteered in public schools. Ruth also found the time to participate in the Christopher Blenman Senior Center before moving into her present home in 2010.
Celia added, “After reading her biography I was so impressed with her resiliency and spirit, and the way she has lived her life.”
So is Standing O. Wishing Ruth health, happiness, and joy for years to come.
New York Congregational Nursing Center [135 Linden Blvd. at Rogers Avenue in Crown Heights, (718) 284–0039].
