Ruth Joslin Liuzza

Ruth Joslin Liuzza died July 2, 2022, just two days shy of her 94th birthday. She was born July 4th, 1928 to Virgil and Mary Hutcheson Joslin, in White River, South Dakota, and spent her early childhood on a homestead on the South Dakota prairie. Her family moved to the Ozarks of rural Missouri and then to Springfield, MO. After high school she moved to New Orleans, LA to attend Mather School of Nursing at Southern Baptist Hospital. There she met and married B. Roy Liuzza in 1949.

Ruth worked as a Registered Nurse for many years. She also owned Rainbow Books and Gifts, a religious bookstore in Monroe, and worked for the Silver Waters Girl Scout Council until retirement. She loved reading (almost always non-fiction, especially biographies) and writing. She had a gift for deep and lasting friendship and made it a point to maintain those friendships through many years. She treated others with kindness and generosity and was a role model for her family and friends.

Although Ruth suffered from dementia and failing health in her last years, she maintained grace and dignity, kindness and humor, and joy (her favorite word). She would birdwatch by the hour, read books and the newspaper, and go about her day with a smile. No matter how forgetful, she rarely complained. She lived by the words of the Psalms, “This is the day which the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118: 24). Just as her life was a model of how to get any job done with skill and good cheer, taking care of everyone around her and enriching the world by her presence, her last years were a model of how to let go with grace and gentleness, acceptance and gratitude. A special thanks to the staff at Rosemont Assisted Living, to Dr. Charles Morgan, and to her caregivers, especially Tamika Crump and Shonda Smith, for their dedicated care and kindness.

Ruth is preceded in death by her mother and father, her brother Irwin and his wife Alice, brother Jim, and sister-in-law Lorene Joslin, her infant son Paul, and her son-in-law, Danny Perrer. She is survived by her brother George and his wife Carole, sister-in-law Joan Joslin, and her large family of children and grandchildren—Missy and Tim Cotita, with Jessie Morgan Owens and James Owens, Katie and Nick Shipley, Andy and Quinn Morgan, Emily and Russell Poole, Keller Cotita, and Elizabeth Cotita; Joann Perrer, with Matt and Megan Perrer, and Frances and Brad Shelton; Susan and Fred Elliott, with Laura Elliott and Dave Riddle, Sarah and Chris Pugh, and Brian and Rebekah Elliott; Roy and Ellen Liuzza, with Joseph Liuzza and Tess Liuzza; and Sally and Tracy Brooks, with Colin Brooks, Spencer Brooks, and Claire Brooks—and twenty-seven great-grandchildren. We have all been made better by her love and example, and her memory will be a blessing to all of us.

Visitation will be Saturday, July 9, from 10 – 11am, Funeral at 11am, at Jesus the Good Shepherd Church in Monroe.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Audubon Society.

Online registry/condolences: www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com
Mulhearn Funeral Home
Monroe, Louisiana