Ruth Conry

Ruth Rice Conry died Friday morning, August 12, at 6:18 am at St. Elizabeth's Hospice in Northern Kentucky. Ruth was the beloved mother of Thomas and Timothy, and is also survived by two grandsons, Michael and Christopher and numerous friends and relatives.

She was more than halfway to her 93rd birthday. Her death was not unexpected but its suddenness was - having been in a long decline over the past several years and having moved to the skilled nursing side of Madonna Manor where she had spent her last 20 years. She was afflicted with severe osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s though that was not severe and under control. More recently she had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and this summer had been placed under hospice care. She fought her loss of mobility - for she loved to walk even with a walker. Moving to a wheel chair was a blow. She broke her leg in a fall on Monday August 8.

Ruth was born in Covington KY during the Spanish Flu epidemic and survived that thanks to a close family friend. She married Tom Conry in 1942 and moved to St. Louis during the war, then to Baltimore at the war’s end. She spent some of her most favorite years in Dickeyville where Tom Jr. and Tim grew up. Later they moved to Bolton Hill, then to Chattanooga and later to Red Bank NJ. Ruth and Tom divorced while in New Jersey. Subsequently, Ruth moved back to her beloved Baltimore where she worked on the sets at the Baltimore Opera, worked as a seamstress, and volunteered to help others. While there, she lived in the Falls Road area and then in Bolton Hill at the Memorial Apartments. Later she moved to the Madonna Manor retirement facility on the grounds of the St. Walburg Benedictine Monastery in Villa Hills KY where her sister Pauline was a nun. Later her younger sister Mary moved there too. Both sisters predeceased Ruth. Ruth was a dedicated volunteer at the Pike Street Clinic run by Sr. Ann John. She donated her body to the University Of Cincinnati Medical School, and will ultimately be interred in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Covington, KY.

She received excellent and thoughtful care at Madonna Manor and from St. Elizabeth’s Hospice. Memorial contributions may be made to Madonna Manor (2344 Amsterdam Drive, Villa Hills KY 41017) in her name.

For a brief photo album (44 slides) and slide show of Ruth’s life go to: http://performancephoto.zenfolio.com/ruth-conry.

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