Ruth Wilson O'Brien

On May 16th the world lost one its unsung, but none the less, inspiring souls when Ruth Wilson O’Brien died after a lingering illness. While not a religious or overly spiritual person, and unlike so many who claim to be so, Ruth led a life which was exemplary of the tenants of the Judeo- Christian religions. In so doing she managed to live more, touch more lives, and provide more caring, than most could in several lifetimes. Along the way Ms. O’Brien lived life as few women growing up when she did managed. Ruth was born shortly before the depression on April 17th, 1925 in the small town of Gordon in the eastern mountains of Pennsylvania to the late William George Wilson and Grace Elizabeth (Duncan) Wilson. She spent her childhood there as well. After completing high school in Gordon she entered what would be her lifelong calling of nursing at Hood College in Fredrick Maryland. She graduated in 1947 as an RN with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. At that time, and for years to come, few Registered Nurses had earned the BSN degree. This was but one of many achievements and adventures Ruth packed into her life. Ms. O’Brien went on to use her knowledge and training to instruct many other nurses; first in the Washington Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, PA, after which she taught at West Liberty University in West Liberty, WV, followed by teaching in the Graduate School of Nursing at West Virginia University, and finally instructing in the School of Nursing at the University of South Florida. As her own children reached college, and then graduate school, Ruth did likewise. In the nineteen seventies she earned a Master of Education degree from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, PA and a Master of Nursing degree from the University of Pittsburgh. In that same decade she completed the Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Rochester, becoming one of the first nurse practitioners in the United States. Finally, as Ms. O’Brien had just about completed her PhD in Nursing at the University of Florida and now in her early 60’s, and after nearly fifty years in academic nursing, she decided she had enough of the academic world. However, unlike most, instead of retiring she resigned from the faculty of the University of South Florida School Of Nursing and spent the better part of the next ten years in clinical practice utilizing her training as a nurse practitioner to run the Sexually Transmitted Disease clinic for the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County. When she finally did retire in her mid-seventies she continued to volunteer, delivering Meals on Wheels to the shut in elderly. Ruth O’Brien did not confine her sense of curiosity, adventure, or drive to her career in nursing. While at Hood College, Ruth’s clinical training was at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. She did not bring it up much but, when questioned, she was proud to point out for most of her time at “The Hopkins” the majority of the nursing staff were overseas serving as nurses in the military in World War II leaving the upper level nursing students and newly graduated nurses with the additional responsibility of running the hospital. It was in Baltimore that Ruth met the late Malcom Ruben, MD; at the time a medical student at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. They married shortly before Dr. Ruben’s graduation. While it was not unusual, especially in war time, to marry at their young ages of 22, parents of many religions still frequently frowned upon their children “marrying outside the faith”; especially a Christian marrying a Jew. But this lack of fear at being unorthodox when she believed in what she was doing would be one of the defining characteristics of Ruth O’Brien’s life. Over the next four years, as her husband completed his training in the field of Urology, first in Chicago, and then finishing in Baltimore, Ruth had the first two of their eventual four children and converted to Judaism; all the while working as a nurse to help support the growing family. Ruth moved to Washington, PA with her husband after they completed a stint at Camp Lejune Marine Base where her husband, Dr. Ruben, fulfilled his military obligation to the Navy. During her time in North Carolina, before they moved to Washington, PA Ruth dealt with her husband being sent overseas toward Korea and then took care of the young family while assisting him to battle Polio, which he contracted at Camp Legune amidst one of the epidemics which swept the country. And she also gave birth to their third child. Their fourth child was born shortly after establishing themselves in Pennsylvania. Along with her husband, Ruth purchased a Mercedes Benz 300SL “gull-wing”, at the time the fastest production car in the U.S. She was known to drive this vehicle at speeds perhaps less than prudent as they raced it, and subsequent sports cars, in formal rallies about the hills of western PA. One time the couple returned from a vacation in Mexico with a baby Ocelot, orphaned by a hunter in the Mexican jungle. Ruth was the one to carry it home on the plane in a straw bag. After she had nursed it back to health, the Ocelot lived for a number of years in their household. On another occasion, while her husband hunted in Alaska, Ruth drove their Landrover across Canada by herself during winter to drop it off to be sold as the couple flew home. This love of driving and adventure never left her. Until the last few years of her life she would regularly hop in her SUV with her pet dog and drive alone from Florida to visit her children, and grandchildren, in Pennsylvania and Michigan. During that time in Pennsylvania time Ruth had numerous friends, was active in several social organizations, and even played regularly in a bridge club, popular in the era. She did so while continuing to raise her children and working as a nursing instructor. After 26 years of marriage, Ruth and her husband separated and subsequently divorce. While Ruth was shaken by the experience she recovered with her typical, indomitable spirit. After a year in Arizona where she provided health care for a Native American tribe, Ruth returned to Washington, PA where she eventually met and wed the late Joseph M. O’Brien and helped to finish raising his two younger children from his previous marriage. While their relationship was tragically cut short by Joseph’s death from pancreatic cancer, until then Ruth lived a full life with Joe. From their honeymoon on the beautiful, but then Communist and nearly unheard of, island of Grenada in the Caribbean, to many weekends in cabins in the state parks of West Virginia or the island of Putin Bay in Lake Erie, to symphonies and plays in nearby Pittsburgh the couple worked hard and enjoyed life. Following Joseph’s death Ruth moved to Tampa, FL where a number of her aunts, uncles, and cousins had been residing for decades. Although in her later fifties at the time, she continued to work for nearly 20 additional years. She was joined after several years by her younger daughter, Amy Conley, MD and her daughter’s husband, Col. James Conley, (USAF ret.). She was residing with them upon her death. Ruth is survived by three children, Amy R. Conley, MD, of Tampa Florida, Janis R. Deitch, MLIS, of Mars, PA, and Geoffrey L. Ruben, MD, of Washington, PA, and their spouses as well as by granddaughters, Chandra Abbondanza, Kara Pappas, and grandsons, Samuel Ruben, Jacob Ruben, Grant Conley, and Wilson Conley along with four great grandchildren. She also is survived by two step-children, Katherine Klinefelter of Washington, DC and Martin J. O’Brien of Washington, PA. Ms. O’Brien is succeeded in death by her second husband, Joseph M. O’Brien, a son, Marc W. Ruben, and a sister, Grace Louise Paulshock. Per her wishes, Ruth’s remains are to be cremated. A private memorial service will be held later in the autumn. Contributions in the honor of her memory may be sent to the American Heart Association.