MIFSUD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-05-23 published
TRIMMER,
Ruth
Spiritual adventurer, gourmet vegetarian cook, film Connoisseur,
beloved partner, cherished friend. Born January 1, 1945, in Buffalo.
Died March 1 in Toronto following cardiac arrest, aged 63.
By Carol LATIMER, Cindy
MIFSUD, Clara
CHAN, Dorothea
HUDEC and
Liz YEIGH,
Page L6
Ruth was born on New Year's Day, and for the rest of her life
she embraced new beginnings with enthusiasm.
She and her older brother, David, were preacher's kids, born
to Ellen McKay
TRIMMER and Rev. Vincent
TRIMMER.
Growing up in
a strict Baptist household had its challenges for Ruth. All her
life she was both a spiritual seeker and a rebel.
Ruth once claimed she'd been a member of nearly every major religion
on earth, and probably a cult or two, but there was nothing superficial
about her search for meaning. She lived as she believed, at one
time giving up a comfortable job to become a mother's helper
to a single parent with two autistic children.
Her career eventually took her to the Ontario public service,
where her work in probation and then policy expressed her belief
that people were essentially good and should be helped, not punished.
She felt intense empathy for anyone who suffered.
Ruth came home in every sense of the word when she met Jean
DEETH.
She became an important part of the Deeth family, and also stayed
connected to her brother David and his children and grandchildren
in the United States.
Ruth and Jean shared 25 years of travel, summers at the cottage
on Oak Lake, Ontario, and movie-watching each September at the
Toronto International Film Festival. They gave fabulous dinner
parties, cooking vegetarian meals that impressed their most carnivorous
Friends. Their beloved dogs were their delight, and Ruth defended
even their worst behaviour. Maggie wasn't a biter - she had "high
prey instincts."
When Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, she responded
with her characteristic courage and intelligence. She researched
everything and sent around her chemo schedules so Friends would
know when she was up for a dinner party and when she wanted someone
to go to chemo with her. When she got a clean bill of health
in 2004, she and Jean threw a huge party.
Her experience with cancer led her back to school, studying for
her master of arts in ministry and spirituality at Regis College
at the University of Toronto, and training as a pastoral counsellor
and spiritual adviser. An intern at Toronto's Christian Counselling
Services, she described counselling clients as the most fulfilling
work she had ever known.
Ruth's unexpected death came as a shock. We will miss her infectious
grin, her wild taste in shirts and, most of all, her exuberant
and contagious excitement and satisfaction with life. We were
so lucky to have known her.
Carol LATIMER, Cindy
MIFSUD, Clara
CHAN, Dorothea
HUDEC and Liz
YEIGH are Ruth's Friends.
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