Ruth Blaschke

An extraordinary life ended Sunday, March 12th. The impact and the influence of that life, not only on Mom's friends and family but literally countless hundreds of children, will never die. No mere chronology can possibly explain how incredible she was. A few salient dates and events are important to note. Mom was born on the windswept plains of Enid Oklahoma on the above date, the only daughter and second child of professional educators and ministers, James Alexander Word and Elizabeth Morgan Word. This dedication to learning and faith would become Mom's bedrock. She followed her parents to one small Oklahoma town after another as they pursued not only the Gospel but the gospel of teaching. Denoya, Whizbang and Calvin are just a few of these towns with Mom graduating from Calvin High School in 1938. She then began a life long love affair with what is now Oklahoma State but was then Oklahoma A&M. She did not just graduate from there in 1942 but continued her passion for all things Cowboy her entire life, among which was generously donating to the University's foundation. Mom began teaching immediately in Choctaw. Some friends set up a blind date with Dad who was an OU graduate in naval flight training after leaving OU Medical School to serve during the war. In about two months after meeting, Mom and Dad married on March 24th, 1943. (Mom almost made it to their 74th wedding anniversary.) What thus began as a whirlwind, wartime romance became a lifetime of real partnership, abiding love and trust and lots of fun. OU did re-admit Dad in 1946 and upon graduation in 1950, Mom and Dad lived respectively in San Francisco, Dalhart Texas and finally Oklahoma City as Dad plied his trade as a physician. Children also began. In about two year intervals six children were born beginning with Jon in 1945, followed by Dan, Mike, Kris, Neil and Bill. In addition to being a fully supportive physician's wife, Mom's true career then began. One part of that career was cooking and food. One of Dan's friends remarked Mom was like a short order cook in a diner. But oh what a diner! Oh what a chef! To mention only one, her children sought the world over in every Italian restaurant they could find, to discover the equal to her veal piccata. We never found an equal. Not even close. And Mom cooked like this, at the spur of the moment regardless of the number of "drop- ins," with grace and ease. We still do not know how she did it but the answer probably is that she was enjoying herself immensely and it was therefore no stress at all. Mom taught or at least tried to teach all of us music from her classical perspective. She was very talented on piano and violin. It is true that only Jon plays today but all her children got the music bug and live her music today. With her children grown or almost grown, Mom found no reason to retire from her profession and over the course of about 25 years; Mom and Dad housed, fed and loved no less than 180 foster children. The number is not accurately known by government sources, but is more likely closer to 250. Over time they were assigned more difficult medical cases or very small children with large psychological problems. All eventually left to adoption or return to their original families. All, all without exception left as better people. Mom did not have to do this. She could have enjoyed her own time and financial resources, traveled more (Mom and Dad did travel the world) or taken up music again or some other hobby. But she chose the foster parent path because she believed you cannot just call yourself a Christian. Sometimes you have to act like one. Mom of course would never say her faith was the reason she became a parent to hundreds of strangers. When asked by a local television station why she did it, she said she did it because it was "fun." Mom knew fun. Every family dinner, every family vacation was made immense joy by her simple presence. A person of supreme wit, charm and humor, it was impossible to spend any time with her without coming away smiling. In her last days, one of her children joked that "Your favorite child is here!" Mom retorted "Hi, favorite child" but then whispered to another child standing by which was later repeated: "Tell Mike I often contradict myself!" If courage can be defined as laughing in the face of death, clearly Mom was courage. Mom was predeceased by her parents, her two brothers, James and Jack, her son Robert Neil and a granddaughter, Samantha Blaschke Chism. Those remaining to celebrate this remarkable person are her husband, John Ahrens Blaschke, M.D.; son Jon W. Blaschke, M.D., his wife Shirley and their son Jon P. Blaschke, M.D., and his wife Lissa; son Dan A. Blaschke and his wife Lynn; son Michael Blaschke and his wife and children Georgene, Jay and Emily and her husband Matt Link; daughter Kris Blaschke and her children and spouses Michelle and Tom Manning and Alex and Ashley Wisdom; her son Neil's daughter and husband Erica and Derek Zolner; son Bill Blaschke and his wife and son, Karan and Andrew. To all the above mentioned grandchildren and the following great grandchildren, Mom was known as "Gram." Sophia and Nils Blaschke, Emilia Blaschke, Harper Link, Mark and Aaron Manning, Liam, Maddox, Owen and Annabelle Zolner. Gram has shown each of these little ones in one way or another, at one time or another, what it means to be a loving person. It is her testament to them to find their own way to become extraordinary, to find their own path to a remarkable life. Gram, Mom, would say to each that joy begins in faith and Mom was a sustaining member of Crown Heights Christian Church for almost sixty years. It is to Crown Heights donations should be directed in lieu of flowers. The family will receive friends and well wishers at Smith & Kernke between the hours of 6 and 8 PM, Thursday, March 16th, with a memorial service at Crown Heights Christian Church 11 AM, Friday, March 17th. Words of farewell were never written better than Emily's after her last visit to Gram: "May we all be as lucky to have a life as happy, full and as important as Gram's. May we all be blessed with the dignity of dying at home surrounded by the ones we love."