By Bonita Wilborn
Ruby McGee got a real surprise on Tuesday, October 2, when her fellow employees at the Geraldine Library surprised her with a very informal 90th birthday party. Mayor and Mrs. Chuck Ables were there for the event along with Ruby’s daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and the Mountain Valley News. Everyone except the library employees entered the back door of the facility, and waited for everyone else to arrive, totally unbeknownst to Mrs. Ruby. Her fellow employees had spent the morning making excuse after excuse to go into the back where they were putting up decorations and ushering in the cake, chips, drinks, and balloons.
Finally the time had arrived and Director Diane Maddox made her way back up front to get the unsuspecting party girl. As she entered the back room and saw her family members there she was elated and totally surprised, then a bigger surprise came when she looked around to see the reason for all the trips to the back, cake and balloons. Her first words were, “I’m going to whoop y’all.”
Ruby first began working at the Geraldine Public Library at the age of 72, which is passed the time in life when most people are ready to retire so they can rest from their lifetime of labor. But not Mrs. Ruby.
Ruby McGee was working with “TARCOG”, a government agency that places older adults in facilities where they receive on-the-job training, learn new skills, update old skills, and get work experience that will help prepare them to reenter the workforce. Ruby said, “TARCOG, sent me down to the library to work in the year 2000. I stayed in TARCOG for about two years then Coolidge Isbell hired me full time and I’ve been here ever since.”
When asked about specific things she likes about her job at the library, Ruby answered, “I enjoy working with everybody here at the library. Diane doesn’t seem like a boss, she’s just one of us. We all just have fun together and work together. I like all of the jobs that have to be done here at the library; put up books, check in books, send faxes, and just a little bit of everything. I enjoy meeting all of the people. It’s just wonderful.”
Ruby grew up between Fyffe and Geraldine on her family farm with five sisters and a baby brother. Her oldest brother, Ross Westbrook, was killed at Pearl Harbor, so she had to be the boy and plow with mules. She lived and worked on the family farm until she married her next-door neighbor, J.L. McGee. She and J.L moved a short distance from their childhood homes into a renter house owned by J.L.’s father. “I’ve lived here all of my life,” Ruby said.
Ruby and J.L had three children, two sons and a daughter. They’re all still fairly close, one lives close to her in Fyffe, one lives in Rainsville, and the other lives in Huntsville.
Even at the age of 90, Ruby is still very active and is a productive citizen. She does her own housework and mows her own yard. She enjoys crocheting and all sorts of needlework, as well as quilting. She spent most of her life as a stay at home wife and mother and helped her husband on his cotton farm.
When asked about some of the changes she’s seen during her 90 years of life Ruby began, “Well, people used to pick cotton in a pick sack and chop cotton, then we got to where we’d plant it pretty thick and stopped chopping it. Then we got a cotton picker and got to stop picking it altogether. Most everybody around where I lived farmed and everybody raised their own gardens. Everybody had large families and that has changed these days.”
Where technology is concerned, Ruby said, “As a child there were only a few people around that had a telephone. We didn’t have electricity until after I got married. The power came through here in about 1948. As soon as we got power my husband went to this store in Fyffe and bought a refrigerator, stove, and a ringer type washing machine. As soon as he could save up the money we got a black and white TV.”
When asked about any plans to retire she answered, “I’ve always worked so I plan to continue working as long as I’m able to do my job.”
So if you live in the Geraldine area, or you just happen to be passing through, stop by the library and say hi to Mrs. Ruby and the other ladies there. I’m sure they’ll greet you with a good ole southern smile.