Alberty Cemetery
Adair County, Oklahoma

Miss Ruth Alberty, a resident of St. Siemon’s Episcopal Home, since 1996 passed away quietly in her home Wednesday evening February 7, 2007. Miss Ruth was born August 24, 1907 in Westville, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory.
Ruth was the eldest of seven children born to Mr. W.W. and Mrs. Ella B Alberty.

Miss Ruth proved to be an exceptional student throughout her elementary, junior, and senior high years. She was the Valedictorian of her Eighth Grade class and finished at the top of her high school class as well.

Soon after graduating high school Ruth took the Oklahoma State Teachers Exam. At this particular time teachers were at a premium and the state would hire high school graduates without a college education provided that they could excel on the state teachers exam. Ruth passed the test making a score of 96%. Her first teaching school was a small country school called Union Hill, located a few miles from her family home. She taught first through sixth grades and she was the only teacher for the entire school. Ruth said it was a lot of work but it was very rewarding and she never ran out of things to do. Ruth taught at Union Hill for several years, saved her money, and then attended Northeastern State College in Tahlequah graduating with a teaching degree in 1934. After receiving this degree she returned to Westville and taught in the Westville School system for many years.

Believing that she needed to continue her education she accepted a teaching job in small town near Norman, Oklahoma so that she could begin work on a advanced teaching degree. She graduated with a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Oklahoma in May 1942. After receiving this degree, Ruth continued to teach in Oklahoma until 1944 when she moved to Los Angeles California. She was hired by the Los Angeles Federated School System and taught in Los Angeles for 28 years until she retired in 1972. While living in the Los Angeles area she continued to advance her own education and received a Masters Degree in School Administration from USC and a Bachelors Degree in English Literature from UCLA.

Upon retiring from teaching, Ruth returned to Oklahoma in 1972, where she continued her lifelong pursuit of learning. She attended numerous classes at Oklahoma State University learning such things as gardening, computers, and landscaping. She attended seminars to learn about investing in mutual funds, stocks, and bonds. She even went to real estate school and became a licensed real estate broker. Until the day she died, Ruth read a newspaper every day and listened to the world news on television. Beyond Ruth’s educational pursuits, she had many other areas of interest.

She was an avid Bridge player, belonging to two Bridge Clubs and played a minimum of three times a week. She belonged to The Shakespeare Club, the Sioris Club, the Oklahoma City China Club, and the Oklahoma Garden Club. She served as President of both the Shakespeare Club and the Sirocis Club.

She was also a member of the YWCA where she participated in the swimming program for older adults. As she said many times, she was a teacher by profession, but a world traveler by choice.

Ruth and several of her friends traveled every summer for almost six weeks. Their travels took them all over the world. Many of her trips were in the 1950’s and 1960’s when modes of travel weren’t exactly as sophisticated as they are today. She traveled to India and where she rode elephants. She also rode camels in Egypt while visiting the Great Pyramids. She traveled to the Far East and took numerous trips to Europe and Great Britain.

Her last major trip was to Russia in 1984 at the spry age of 75. She spent a month touring the former Soviet Union and for the first time in her life she said that she was glad to be home.

Education and family were the two great tenets that guided Ruth throughout her life. She loved everyone in her family very much. Although she had no children of her own she had many nieces and nephews that she loved. When we were all small she would regale us of her journeys to all of the far off lands; and we would just laugh ourselves silly at the thought of our Aunt Ruth riding an elephant or a camel!! When we became older, she not only loved us but she assisted many of us when we went to college. Ruth always felt that education was the key to one’s happiness and that education never ends. She was always there to give her FREE advice about what you were choosing as a career--which usually did not please her! But, if we ever needed help she was always there for all of us. She told us many times that she wanted more for us than she had. Because of Aunt Ruth we all are better off for having had her with us so many years. She will be missed by all of us; but she will be welcomed by her brothers and sisters and her parents; and she is finally truly at HOME.