Rutha S. Baron's Obituary
Rutha Jean “Ruth” Smith Baron, 98, passed on peacefully to her next adventure the
morning of Thursday, March 28, 2025 in her Oro Valley home. She was born in Chicago,
Illinois on the very hot day of July 20,1926 to Indigenous educator Rutha Alice and U.S.
Army veteran Nathaniel Smith. Ruth was extremely proud of her matrilineal Muscogee
(Creek) culture and heritage. She and her mother both were named for their resilient
relative, Erutha, born during the Trail of Tears forced expulsion era and still alive long
enough to ceremoniously bless her tiny, premature great-granddaughter.
When Ruth was five, during the Great Depression, her father abandoned the family,
causing immense trauma and consternation. To avoid scandal and find teaching work,
her mother fled Chicago, leaving her daughter with her husband’s grandparents,
Nathaniel and Frances, in the pastoral, central Illinois town of Peoria.
At nine, after shuttling between more relatives’ houses, Ruth knew she wanted to be a
children’s book author and illustrator. Over her young, lonely life, she had created a
plethora of charming paintings and numerous short stories about mischievous children
gallivanting on magical adventures, perhaps as a way to surround herself with colorful
playmates. She and her beloved first cousin, Sue, also shared time inventing new
characters and acting out stories.
During World War II as a teen, she volunteered in local hospitals as a Candy Striper, a
type of nurse’s aid who wore a distinctive red-and-white striped pinafore and cap,
tending to injured doughboys. Her American patriotism was born while lifting the spirits
of these hurt and homesick soldiers.
Her creativity flourished as she studied Journalism and French at The University of
Missouri, or “Mizzou” as graduates affectionately call it. She joined the Alpha Delta Pi
sorority and participated in many activities serving her college and the Columbia,
Missouri community.
She honed her editorial skills after graduation working for a women’s magazine in the
bustling Chicago Loop. Ruth became enthralled with the masterworks displayed in the
nearby Art Institute of Chicago. She often used her lunch hour not to eat but to drift
through the galleries, studying the brush strokes, compositions and color choices made
by world renown artists. This passion for art and art history grew throughout her life as
she educated herself about various artistic movements.
She married fellow Dupont Nemours employee, chemist and concentration camp
survivor, Carl Baron, in 1959 in Chicago. With his guidance, she championed a new
cause: sponsoring Polish relatives and other survivors still traumatized by the war’s
atrocities and struggling behind the Iron Curtain. In all, she helped at least 25 people
flee Poland and Czechoslovakia and emigrate to the U.S. She became fluent in Polish
and often translated or explained confusing bureaucratic documents so the emigrés
could find safe lodging and dependable jobs. She welcomed many personally into the
couple’s home. She even helped the most vulnerable maneuver successfully through
American culture.
While working full-time as a textbook editor at Scott-Foresman in the suburb of
Glenview, Illinois in the 1960s and 70s, she also assisted her husband during evenings
and weekends managing and cleaning their four-story building on Milwaukee Avenue in
Chicago. It housed his Polish restaurant, Krokodyl (the Crocodile). The exhausting extra
work left no free time, yet decades later, she delighted listeners by recounting stories of
wedding disasters that occurred and celebrities who visited.
After the death of her husband in 1979, she moved back to Peoria with her mother and
only child, Renata. Ruth became the Public Information Officer for the Civil Air Patrol
Peoria Squadron when her daughter joined as a cadet, took classes in interior design
and reconnected with extended Moss, Truitt and Bradley relatives who founded Bradley
University in the city. She also wrote and painted in earnest. Of all her works, her
favorite was her completed novel about two young ghost girls living in their family’s attic,
based on a true story about her father’s ancestors. Her published work included The
Gold Under the Stone and Other Tales, a short story anthology she also illustrated, and
nonfiction magazine articles. Her own paintings decorate various rooms of her home to
this day.
She moved to quaint Sanibel Island, Florida as an empty nester, proclaiming herself
Baroness of the Island. She attended the parties of her next-door neighbor, “Magnum
P.I.” actor Tom Selleck, prepared key lime pie and Julia Child recipes, hosted friends,
patronized the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and continued writing and painting.
However, in 1992 Hurricane Andrew demolished her sanctuary. She asked her daughter
about places to move “where there will never be any hurricanes.” Since they both
savored a visit to Tucson in the 1970s, Renata suggested the desert city and Ruth
moved her mother and herself there soon after.
There, she met Roger, a former educator, IT executive and another recent Tucson
transplant. They explored their new city and state, always relishing the adventures of
viewing and learning new things and finding the next highly rated restaurant. Their
gallivanting and mutual appreciation grew into a stalwart, devoted friendship. Ruth
became so entranced with her adopted city that she invited her best friend, Jasia,
another war survivor, to move, too. At first, Jasia lived in Ruth’s guest house, then the
women lived side-by-side in Oro Valley.
With Roger and Jasia’s steadfast encouragement, her creativity blossomed again. Ruth
founded the Beowulf Alley Theater Company in downtown Tucson. Occasionally, she
acted in some of the company’s productions and read many scripts for potential
upcoming shows. In all, she was thoroughly delighted by the glamor of this type of
storytelling, interacting with artistic people and supporting live theater.
Always an animal lover, she supported many shelters and rescues. She donated to
local, regional and national animal charities, such as Ironwood Pig Sanctuary, the
Humane Society of Southern Arizona and Best Friends Animal Society. She adopted
shelter pets throughout her life, including Samara, her cherished 20 year-old tuxedo cat,
whom she welcomed as a baby and who was present to comfort Ruth in her final days.
Surrounded by her entourage of friends and helpers next to the Santa Catalinas where
she felt most emotionally and spiritually elevated, Ruth reached out to her family as
well. Her five great-grandchildren were especially precious to her because she knew the
power of the great-grand bond. Three raucous generations visited her as did her niece
and extended relatives, all making special memories in the desert.
Ruth was preceded in death by her maternal great-grandmother, Erutha Whitekiller, and
paternal great-grandparents, Nathaniel S. and Frances (Truitt) Cutright; parents, Rutha
Alice (White) Smith and Nathaniel Cutright Smith; cousin, Suzanne (Rohling) Scott; best
friend, Janina (Jasia) Kwiatkowska; husband, Carl Baron; and numerous treasured pets.
She is survived by her daughter, Renata (Steve) Hill; grandchildren, Jake (Melissa) Hill
and TJ Hill; great-grandchildren, Dylan, Landyn, Bentley, Collin and Adelynn; niece,
Grace (Baron) Jacyna; dear one, Roger Rikkola; her cat, Samara; and the many
humans and animals she positively impacted.
Her Celebration of Life will occur on Saturday, May 3, 2025 from 11am to 12pm at
Evergreen Mortuary, 3015 N Oracle Rd, Tucson, AZ 85705; (520) 257-4831. An
Afterparty in the Ruth Baron style will be held from 1-3pm at HiFalutin’ Grill, 6780 N
Oracle Rd, Tucson, AZ 85704; (520) 297-0518.
What’s your fondest memory of Rutha?
What’s a lesson you learned from Rutha?
Share a story where Rutha's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Rutha you’ll never forget.
How did Rutha make you smile?