Ruby Lee Norris lived life to the fullest up to the end of her 96 years. On Valentine’s Day, three days before she fell ill, she entertained President Richard V. Hurley and others. Photo by Tom Chillemi
No one exuded more exuberance for life than Ruby Lee Norris ’36.That’s why news of her stroke earlier this year and subsequent death hit me so hard.
I first met Ruby Lee eight years ago at her Topping, Va., home in Virginia’s Northern Neck. As the new Mary Washington magazine editor, I was her invited guest.
In her mind, we were kindred spirits, laborers in the thankless but gratifying world of words. We sipped tea while perusing the Pleasant Living magazines on her coffee table – nearly every one with an article or photograph by Ruby Lee.
Using a state-of-the-art computer, she was a writer, blogger, emailer, and faithful UMW class agent. As daily inspiration, I keep a snapshot of Ruby Lee – eyes twinkling – on my desk.
At a packed funeral service, her pastor and friends tried to find words to capture this 96-year-old who defied description:
A lady of great stature
Dignified, gracious, enlightened, forthright, and faithful
An elder stateswoman
A fashion icon
A technology guru
A kid at heart
Larger than life
Ruby Lee’s perpetual passion was her alma mater. When interviewed for this magazine four years ago, she said that Mary Washington had “changed her life.” For that transformation, she gave back.
A career educator, she served two terms on both the UMW Alumni Association and Foundation boards; at 80, she was appointed to the Board of Visitors. In 1986, Ruby Lee received the Distinguished Alumnus Award; five years later, she received the Frances Liebenow Armstrong ‘36 Service Award for her years of devotion to Mary Washington. She established the Ruby Lee Norris Scholarship for students majoring in either of her areas – French or English.
Last summer over lunch, Ruby Lee told me that she was experimenting with a new poetic form. A few days later, she emailed the resulting poem, Sonatina After Sunset, an ode to the creatures she adored – birds, geese, and cicadas. In it, she repeated the refrain: Singing themselves to sleep, daylight fades into midnight.
As daylight faded on her life, the regal, robust, refined Ruby Lee likely sang herself to sleep.