Ruth's longtime friend Yael Dowker writes of her:
I have known Ruth for many years, but never had enough time with her, as we lived on different continents. She was a person of great personal integrity, with a very warm heart. She was at the same time very discreet, and in almost all situations could find the right word or action to suit the occasion. She lived her life according to her own straightforward human principles. She was independent of judgmental conventions, without any emotional need either to conform to the conventions or to consciously defy them. She judged everything on its merits, without emotional baggage that would be expected of most people in in situations associated with very difficult and stressful experiences. She took things as they came, facing things with uncommon objectivity for a person, who had so many knocks, and with determination to surmount the next obstacle. She reminded me of the Jewish joke, which I told her, and which she appreciated:
Scientists discovered that in three months, a meteor would hit the Earth, and that as a result there would be no part of the Earth’s surface that would be under less than a hundred feet of water. The Pope called his flock and exhorted them all to repent and receive the last rites. The Protestant leaders also all exhorted their congregations to repent and pray for forgiveness. Then the Chief Rabbi made his address: ‘O Jews of the world! You have only three months to learn how to live under a hundred feet of water!’
She was resourceful, funny, very helpful, and great to be with.
