Ruth Schaeffer
Ruth Thayer Schaeffer, age 85, a Goleta resident for nearly 50 years, passed away at home on June 21, 2024 as a consequence of vascular dementia. Despite her age, Ruthie remained youthful and attractive nearly all her life.
She was born to frugal and loving parents in Ithaca N.Y. on October 12, 1938. Her father was a coal dealer. Her mother kept the office books. Ruthie’s close ties to her extended family and friends in Ithaca and the small nearby town of Danby, where she grew up, led to the affectionate, devoted and fun- loving person she became.
Ruthie recalled her mother, who was the church organist for 35 years, looking out the kitchen window toward the hills behind their house, quoting: “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”
The emotional lyrics of the Bluegrass Country song, “Hills of Home” come to mind:
“Can’t you feel those hills around you Can’t you feel that touch of home Don’t you wish you’d never gone There are some things memories can’t bring home Hills of home hills of home Families scattered off and gone These old hills that have been passed by Well they’ve seen their share of leavin’ in their time”
But with Ithaca College and Cornell University in the vicinity, there were also high expectations to work hard to achieve and to serve others. One of the Thayer neighbors was Wilson Greatbatch, the Cornell engineering graduate who invented the first successful implantable pacemaker. Ruthie recalls visiting his barn and watching Wilson tinker at his workbench. He was also able enough to get the projector going for the kids on Friday nights at the local town hall.
After graduating from Ithaca High School, Ruthie attended SUNY Cortland, majoring in elementary education. Following graduation, she taught 3 rd grade in Greece, N.Y., and then went to Syracuse University where she earned a Master’s degree in Developmental Reading. From there, she taught at a New Haven CT inner city school and then for several years in the Hartford public schools as a reading consultant.
In Syracuse, Ruthie met her future husband Bernie, whom she married in 1966. When living in East Granby, north of Hartford, their two children were born and while they were still preschoolers the family moved to California where Bernie earned a Master’s Degree in Public Health at Berkeley. In 1975, the Schaeffers moved to the Santa Barbara area, bought a home and raised their family.
Ruthie taught at a reading clinic in Santa Barbara for several years, then tutored at home, working her schedule around the children’s after-school activities. She also taught piano and flute, the instrument she had played since high school in a highly regarded band program that earned a visit from Benny Goodman. She continued to play her flute with a chamber group each week. Membership in AAUW, participation in a longstanding Women’s Tuesday breakfast group and volunteer support for Santa Barbara Postpartum Education for Parents—all meant a great deal to Ruthie.
Ruthie’s life was being a devoted parent, a loving wife, special occasions with grandchildren, supporting her adult children in challenging times, numerous cross-country trips by train and plane to visit family, years of tent trailer camping, participating in activities at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, helping care for Bernie’s father in his later years, attending every high school reunion, dinners and socializing with close friends, supporting family members’ musical and other careers, valuing the importance of a good education, vacation trips nearly everywhere in this country and many other destinations throughout the world.
But one of the last things Ruthie said before her death was “When am I going home?”
Whatever work, social or family activity Ruthie engaged in she was never overly driven, unbending or reserved, rather almost always she approached life with an open-minded, caring and accepting spirit. Most importantly, everywhere she went and everything she did, she never forgot those old hills around her; she never forgot that touch of home!
Ruthie is survived by her husband Bernie Schaeffer, children Jon Schaeffer and Amy Goodshaw, a brother Fred Martin Thayer and grandchildren Sophia Schaeffer and Elliot Schaeffer.
A celebration of life in the Santa Barbara area for family and friends will be announced at a later date. Gifts in Ruthie’s memory may be directed to Alpha Resource Center, 4501 Cathedral Oaks Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93110.