Ruthie was born in Denver, CO in 1943. She was the second of three children born to Richard and Mayfield (Sleeth) Bray. She died at home in Port Townsend, WA on February 16, 2026, with loving family members at her side. She was 82.

Ruthie grew up in Spokane, WA until 1955, when the family moved to Maryland near Washington D.C. Her parents and their friends were active in civic affairs; and Ruthie learned early to stand up to injustice. Even as a teenager, in 1960, she joined picket lines opposing segregation in the D.C area. But her true passion was art, and she graduated with a degree in fine arts from American University. She married her high school sweetheart, John Kerschbaum, in 1964. Their daughter Molly was born in 1969. After that marriage ended, Ruthie continued to live in Alexandria, Virginia and worked as an interior designer.

In 1981 Ruthie made the life-changing decision to move back west with Molly. Her search for the perfect place landed her in Port Townsend. The trip across the country with her best friend Jeannie Lennon – driving a rental truck loaded with all her worldly possessions – was legendary. In Port Townsend, Ruthie reinvented herself. She returned to school, getting a certificate in drug and alcohol counseling from Seattle University. In that role, she worked for many years for the Jefferson County Health Department and later for the Washington State Board of Pharmacy. She helped many people through recovery.

As the family story goes, in 1987, Molly and her high school friend, Anne Beers, thought their respective single parents were a good match, and they were plotting for months to set them up. Serendipitously, their mutual friend Ginger was also trying to arrange an introduction. In the inevitable unfolding of such match making, much awkwardness ensued when Ruthie found out that Mike knew she was indeed interested. Nevertheless, it was meant to be – Mike and Ruthie adored each other from the beginning – and they were together for 37 years, until Mike’s death in 2024. Mike’s insightful gentle nature was a perfect complement to Ruthie’s intense pace.

Mike’s four children – Sharon, Jeanne, Joe and Anne – welcomed Ruthie into the extended family with their characteristic enthusiasm along with Molly, Molly’s children Abi and Sarah, and Ruthie’s sister Martha. In turn, Ruthie loved being part of that beautiful family. There were many happy years full of boisterous family gatherings and campouts, and always the celebration of more grandchildren entering their world.

Ruthie possessed an unstoppable creative energy – always building or remodeling or making and collecting things of beauty. During her time in Port Townsend, she owned four different homes, each one becoming a new palette to play with color and design. She was unafraid to tackle any project and could wield carpentry tools with the best of them. Even when the last house, on Gise Street, was just about perfect, she couldn’t stop. She convinced Mike and their friends Pete and Ginger to purchase a house together in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she found great joy in creating beautiful spaces that celebrated her love of that town and Mexican folk art. She also had an innate sense of style, complementing even the simplest outfit with “just right” color combinations and the perfect scarf or beads.

In the 1990’s, she began making fine art quilts. She made nearly a hundred spectacular quilts, all of them full of vibrant color, and bestowed them on family members and friends. With her special friends in the Cabin Fever Quilt Club, and the No Rules Quilters, she also made many comfort quilts for newborns and cancer patients at Jefferson Hospital. Her quilts won numerous awards, including, more than once, the People’s Choice Award at the Jefferson County Fair, which was her favorite. Her creative spark lives on – Molly’s two daughters, Abi and Sarah have clearly inherited their grandmother’s talents and passion for art.

Ruthie and Mike learned to play the card game Hand and Foot from Jeannie Lennon, and they taught it to everyone. For many years, card nights were a ritual not to be missed, even at campouts and when off on traveling adventures. And, of course, Ruthie was a formidably good player.

Ruthie beat the odds more than once, surviving stage-four cancer and its complications for twelve years. Despite the health challenges of the last few years, she lived with fierce determination up to the end. She was outspoken and opinionated, and could be surprisingly blunt, but was always a loving and loyal friend, mother, grandmother, and sibling. And as her cousin Robert said, she was just a lot of fun to be around. She will be deeply missed.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Michael Bray, and her husband Mike Beers. She is survived by her daughter Molly Kerschbaum Walker, granddaughters Abi and Sarah, sister Martha Bray (John Day), nephew Richard (Brooke) Bray, and the Colorado cousins, as well as her beloved Beers clan: Sharon (Peter) McCracken, Jeanne (Mike) Lerhe, Joe (Karen) Beers and Anne Beers (Michael Coxen), Sister in law Jean Beers, twenty-two Beers grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. There have been some special friends who have showed up so generously in recent years – you are not forgotten! The family also wishes to extend gratitude to the providers at Jefferson Healthcare, Jefferson Healthcare Home Health and Hospice for the excellent attention and care given to Ruthie these last few years. It made all the difference.

If you believe in heaven, you can be sure that Ruthie is up there negotiating with the angels about a remodel project to spice up the décor with a little more color and texture, and teaching everybody to play Hand and Foot.

In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorial gifts to Jefferson Health Care Hospice, the American Cancer Society, the Cabin Fever Quilt Club, or to a liberal pro-democracy cause of your choice.

A Celebration of Life for Ruthie is planned for August 8, 2026, details to follow.