Ruby Coombs

RUBY (RUBI) GRACE COOMBS OBITUARY

MOUNT NEMO CHRISTIAN NURSING HOME

BURLINGTON, ONTARIO

Rubi Grace Coombs passed away peacefully on June 22, 2022, at her home, Mount Nemo Christian Nursing Home, after living a very interesting, active and fulfilled life of 97 ½ years.

Rubi loved her home at Mount Nemo, where she lived for the past 5 years, because of its pleasant, calm and relaxing atmosphere created by the kind, friendly and loving staff.

A very special highlight of Rubi’s life at her home was the recent visit of her only living sibling Elsie. The staff at Elsie’s home, Maple Villa, and the staff at Rubi’s home, Mount Nemo, arranged this visit through extraordinary efforts. A special thank you goes out to the wonderful, caring staff of both nursing homes for arranging this precious time for the two sisters to share a final, loving moment with each other.

Rubi was born in Greenwich, England. She was proud of her British Coombs family roots and now she joins those Coombs family members who have passed on before her: her loving mother and father (Ruby Amelia and Frederick) and her loving siblings (Ron, Leslie, Ernie, Betty and Peter).

As a child Rubi loved to roller skate everywhere she went and especially at the end of the day when chasing excitedly alongside the bus that returned her father from his daily work at the railroad.

At the age of 16, around 1940 soon after war broke out in England, Rubi worked at a stationary store on Cheapside in London, just down the street from St Paul’s Cathedral. During air raids, when it got dark, Rubi would go up to the top of the building with her friend to watch the light of the bombs dropping and would worry that St. Paul’s would be struck. To Rubi’s amazement, in spite of the devastation all around, St. Paul’s stood, intact and untouched, right up to the end of the war!

At this age Rubi also experienced firsthand the devastation of the enemy bombings at her home at 312 Downham Way, just south of London. During the evacuation of London and surrounding areas, her home was hit just at the very time her family had left packed suitcases at the front door, ready to leave the very next day, when a bomb blew off the roof! Rubi always refused to sleep in the air raid shelter due to the presence of spiders and after the bombing of their home, she still refused to go into the air raid shelter, choosing to sleep in the house under the kitchen table and now under the stars!

Rubi served her country by working in the Land Army. This was a British civilian organization created, during the First and Second World Wars, so women could work in agriculture producing food for a starving nation, replacing men called up for service in the military. Rubi joined the Women’s Land Army in July of 1942 at the age of 17, which was under-aged, and served for three years, being honourably discharged in Oct of 1945, at the age of 20. During those 3 years, she was stationed at two places north of London, Milton Ernest Hostel and nearby Bolnhurst Hostel. From there Rubi and her co-workers would be transported out to various surrounding farms to help the farmers provide food and supplies for a starving nation at war.

At one of those farms, the haystack Rubi was working atop caught on fire. Everybody got off the haystack when the fire first started but no one was aware that Rubi was still up there, working on the other side! Once she realized the danger, Rubi quickly slid down the backside of the haystack to safety.

Another time, when Rubi was visiting a small village along the east coast, she saw a plane overhead while walking high up on the cliffs next to the sea. She waved at what she thought was a British plane, only to discover, in horror, that it was an enemy plane heading for the village. As she quickly returned to the village, she could see clusters of plumes of smoke from the several bombs that were dropped, soon witnessing firsthand the resulting devastation.

As a result of her efforts in the WLA, Rubi received a personally signed letter from Queen Elizabeth II stating: “By this personal message I wish to express to you, Mrs. R. Liscombe, W.L.A 85064, my appreciation of your loyal and devoted service as a member of the Women’s Land Army from 6th July, 1942 to 2nd October, 1945. Your unsparing efforts at a time when the victory of our cause depended on the utmost use of the resources of our land have earned for you the country’s gratitude. Elizabeth R”

Rubi loved and was very proud of the Queen and the Royal Family.

Rubi was always respectful of Remembrance Day and War Veterans, solemnly viewing Remembrance Day ceremonies in Toronto, Canada and London, England every year.

After the war, in 1946, Rubi moved, as a war bride, to Toronto where she and her husband Sid Liscombe raised a family of three boys: Ron, Ken and Ger. Through the 50’s and 60’s, she and Sid provided many opportunities for those three boys, taking them to England three times (1954, 1961 and 1963), taking them on motor trips to Florida three times, taking them camping many times and enrolling them in various activities, such as YMCA crafts, swimming lessons, Cubs and Scouts, SCUBA diving lessons, ballet lessons, piano lessons and Sunday School. Those visits to England were magical for the three boys and solidified in them a very strong connection with their roots and the Coombs family!

During the 50’s and 60’s, Rubi would make us the best roast beef dinners, complete with British-style Yorkshire pudding, turkey dinners, scallop potatoes and date squares. The list goes on!

Rubi remained married to Sid for 30 years until they divorced in 1972. This was a difficult decision for Rubi to make and a difficult period of her life to navigate.

After the divorce, she survived financially by teaching Yoga near her apartment in downtown Toronto.

Then, Rubi made another big decision in her life and attended university from 1976 to 1978. However, this was not a traditional university offering traditional courses. This was a university in Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Bombay (Mumbai), India and Rubi spent 500 hours during 3 ½ years studying the Vendantas (one of the paths of Indian philosophy) and Sanskrit (a most difficult language to learn). As a child Rubi always wanted to attend university but never had the opportunity and regretted, even resented, it. During the 60’s she pursued night school courses to get her grade 12 diploma. However, her study in India was a wonderful, exciting opportunity to fulfill a lifetime dream and quench her thirst for knowledge.

Upon her return to Toronto, Rubi worked as a secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources from 1980 to 1989, at which point she retired, having met the minimum number of years of employment for a full pension. During this time, she also taught yoga to a number of students.

During the 1990’s it seems she suffered a lot and needed to deal with several medical issues, which she always seemed to do privately and stoically.

Rubi managed money well, maintaining detailed records of every single expenditure, a habit remaining from wartime rationing. Although she also wisely invested most of her savings, she was very generous with her money, helping her three sons and even friends and routinely donating to the War Amps and other charities.

She did her share of travelling, making five trips to England from 1954 to 1997, living in India for three years in the mid 70’s, making three trips to Florida during the 50’s and making several trips to Philadelphia for Indian studies related retreats.

Rubi liked to hang onto things, such as postcards, buttons and crests, coins, stamps, dozens of boxes of binders containing her Sanskrit notes and letters from her Coombs family members.

She loved the British bands, such as Beatles and the Rolling Stones and particularly loved the song “Goodbye Ruby Tuesday” by the Rolling Stones. She attended a number of their concerts whenever they happened to be in Toronto.

Rubi enjoyed knitting, sewing, painting (water and oil), figure skating, teaching yoga and watching and viewing and discussing old movies and actors. She mastered sewing and knitting to be able to make clothes, such as coats and sweaters, for us as kids, as well as ten Noddy Dolls, complete with scarf, hat, shorts and sweater.

She had a great thirst for knowledge and desire and willingness to teach what she learned, such as yoga, knitting, sewing and Indian Philosophy (Vedantas). This led her to make many friends that she kept in touch with by postcard and letter.

Rubi lived modestly and would ration her supplies if need be. Once, when we couldn’t deliver food to her for a couple of days, she said no problem. Although she was on her last egg, she said she could make do for a couple of days!

Rubi loved her three boys, her six grand-children and her seven great grandchildren.

On one visit to Mount Nemo a year or two ago, we gave Rubi a birthday card that had an accompanying pin that she wore with pride that said: “I survived damn near everything!”

Goodbye Rubi Tuesday

Your loving boys,

Ron, Ken and Ger

Wed Sept 21, 2022

A Celebration of Life and Faith Memorial Service will be held at Mount Nemo Christian Nursing Home on Wednesday, September 28th at 6:45 PM. Guests are limited to two per resident being honoured in the service due to social distancing measures.

In lieu of flowers, a donation to your favourite charity would be appreciated. Thank you.