ForeverMissed
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Her Life
April 18, 2014

 

Felicie “Ruth” Major was born on April 24, 1928 to parents William and Margaret in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her father William worked for the Canadian Railrad and she spent a lot of her youth riding the rails with her cousins Keith and John.

She was the first of three daughters. Her two sisters were Margaret and Susan.

She met her future husband Philippe at a roller rink.  He was in Winnipeg for surgery from a war wound. They fell in love and he never left.  They married on April 23, 1949 at St. John’s Cathedral and started their married life on a farm raising pigs and chickens. It was on this farm that they had their first child, a son, named Glenn.

In the 1950’s they immigrated to the United States and became naturalized citizens. They bought a house in Gardena, Ca. and lived there the rest of their lives. They had their second child, a girl, named Paula. 

Ruth was a home maker and when her children got older she went to work at Sears in the Del Amo Mall and retired after working there for over 20 years. During this same time she helped her husband Phil open his own successful small business, as his bookkeeper.

Ruth had a couple of passions. The first was volunteering for the Gardena/Carson YMCA.  She got involved with her daughter in the Indian Princess program and stayed with the Y as a volunteer for the rest of her life. She took on many roles there including becoming the first woman president of the Y’s Men service club. During her time at the Y she raised funds to send kids to camp, and received many accolades and awards (too many to mention here).

Her second passion was BINGO. She started by calling Bingo for the Y to raise money.  When that ended she continued to enjoy and play Bingo every week, only missing for family functions.

Ruth was thrilled and very proud when her 2 grandchildren were born. Brian was born first and Katherine a couple of years later.

Ruth had many friends and “adopted” family. At Christmas no one had to eat alone. All were welcome at her table. Dinner guests numbered from 4 to 25 on any given year. Phil would add on extensions to the table and they would just cook a bigger turkey.

Phil passed in 2012 and his beloved “Red” joined him on March 31, 2014. She passed very peacefully in her home, as she wished, surrounded by friends and family.