Rick Ostofe (Son)
Entered
September 21, 2025
from Wasaga Beach
Ruth was born in Toronto to Frank and Elsie Regan, the middle of three daughters. Hilda was the oldest by 3 years and Liz (predeceased) the youngest. Ruth was shy and quiet. She loved dogs, especially her cocker spaniels Mitzi and Fritz. They disappeared and she blamed herself for leaving the door open. Her father was a brilliant self-taught pianist who once played continuously without sheet music and without repeating a song at a Sunnyside Beach attraction, set a World Endurance Record of 63 hours and 11 minutes. Ruth followed her father’s footsteps, completing Grade 12 of formal training at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Her first public recital was at age 10. In attendance, front row centre, was her Grade 5 school teacher. A year earlier he hit her over her head with a book and she lost the hearing in her right ear. She never held it against him though and he became her favourite teacher. She kept a school picture with both of them in it. After high school, Ruth went on to work as a switchboard operator and later as a bookkeeper for Cassels Blaikie Investment Brokers. After work on a Friday night, she would accompany her sister Hilda to the UNAF Dance Hall on Bathurst Street, or as Aunt Hilda would tell it, she followed her everywhere. There she met the love of her life, Jim. A few dances later, walks home afterwards and that was it. They were inseparable. A year later they married. They quickly started their family, raising four children, Rick, Ann, Cindy and Stephanie. Jim was often out of town as a refrigeration mechanic for Loblaws and Ruth embraced her traditional role of that time, a stay at home homemaker. You might find her walking her kids to school, to the corner grocery store or to High Park, but the family’s six plex on Quebec Avenue is where she would be for the most part. We lived next door to my Dad’s parents and his sister Ann and her family. Sundays were for visiting cousins and they us. So Mom never had friends there. We moved to my mother’s dream home in Mississauga and she developed a very close relationship with neighbour Shirley Gabourie, a friendship that lasted until today. Her four children grew, married in rapid succession and started families of their own. Jim started his own business and Mom helped in the office. They started to travel with the Sawarnas (my Dad’s friend since his teenage years on the farm), the Krils (Dad’s friend since UNAF days) and Dad’s friends from Markland Wood Golf Club. Same theme - the spouses of my Dad’s friends became my Mom’s friends. Rick took over the business and Jim and Ruth moved across the street from Markland Wood Golf Course. Retirement was short lived however and Jim passed away. After 47 years of married life, Ruth was on her own. She was fiercely independent though and wanted to stay in her apartment. She spent many of the next 27 years watching her grandchildren grow, marry and start families of their own. She enjoyed Thursdays and Sundays with Aunt Hilda at Bingo and “Like I said”, almost always came home saying, “I just needed one more number”. She enjoyed watching Let’s Make a Deal and The Price is Right, the Blue Jays, The Leafs and Tennis. She got to see her favourite, Rafa Nadal play at the National Bank Open in Toronto . She spent Christmases, Easters, Summers and Thanksgivings with family and although she was afraid of water, never learning to swim, she walked along the shoreline of Wasaga Beach getting her feet wet. Sadly during her last Easter with family, she fell and broke her hip. Surgery followed by rehab over the next four months, but we saw her quickly decline and she moved into a retirement home briefly. Her last month was in hospital and last two days were in Hospice. Family was by her side throughout and she passed peacefully. She was loved, is loved and will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace, Mom.
