Ruby Zamudio

Ruby Elois Zamudio passed away peacefully on the morning of Mar 16, 2010. She was born on May 22, 1919 on a farm near Covington, Tennessee. She was the fifth child of eight children of Racy Jackson Hazlerig and Ruie Viola Eaker Hazlerig. Her siblings in order of birth were Laura Myrtle, James David, Delbert Adolphus, Clarence Vigil, (Ruby) Georgia Pearl, Minnie Lee, and Jack Octa Hazlerig.
The family moved to Barry, Texas when she was still a baby. Her parents made their living durig the "Great Depression" by renting farms, mostly in West Texas (Vernon, Chillicothe, Medicine Mound) and working the crops as "sharecroppers". At times, there were no farms available and the family, including all the children, picked the crops for other farmers. They went as far as Arizona leaving what was known as the "Dustbowl" headed for California, camping and picking crops, mostly cotton. Missing Texas, her father sold his prized greyhound to get the gasoline to get back to Texas.
Ruby was the Salutatorian of her graduating high school class at Medicine Mound, Texas, in spite of having to miss school and change school often to follow the crops with her family. Ruby's parents sent her to Ada, Oklahoma, to attend College. There she met and married, David Bernard Zamudio, whose family had Mexican restaurants throughout that part of Oklahoma. They were married on September 14, 1942, a Sunday evening, after church, at the First Baptist Church of Ada.
Ruby and David later moved to Oklahoma City where David worked at Tinker Air Force Base during WWII, shipping engines to Europe for the War effort. The couple was very patriotic. They raised two children, Ruby Mercedes (Mickey) and David Mark.
They returned to Ada in 1963 and opened Zamudio's Mexican Restaurant at 835 S. Mississippi where they had a successful business and earned the love and respect of many people in the town. After retiring, Ruby started painting in oils and became an accomplished artist. She belonged to the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority in Ada and served in different offices there, including President. She transferred to the chapter in Prosper, Texas when she moved there in 1995. She also belonged to Eastern Star in Ada. Her husband, David, was a Mason. They were members of St Luke's Episcopal Church while they lived in Ada. She became a member of St. David's Episcopal Church of San Antonio in 2006 and was reconfirmed by Bishop Lillibridge in May 2008. In May 2009, her family and friends celebrated with her, her 90th birthday at her granddaughter, Bonnie's house in Prosper.
More than her art, Ruby's Legacy is the love she shared and bestowed upon her family-her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She helped raise them all and lived for several years in Prosper, Texas, with granddaughter, Bonnie and her husband Tom, caring for her great grandchildren there. She lived for a year in Tulsa sharing her time and her love with Mark, Dana, and their children and grandchildren. All the grands and great grands knew her only as "Grandma". She was well-loved and admired by nieces, nephews, family and friends all over the world including Oklahoma, Texas, Washington State, Wyoming, England and Capetown, South Africa. She was known by nieces and nephews as Aunt "Tommie".
She loved to travel and in 1990 she spent time with her sister, Lee and family in Capetown, S. A. She also traveled to Guam and Sevilla, Spain with her daughter, Mercedes. Since 2005 she had lived in San Antonio with her Daughter, Mercedes, and Grandson, John.
Survivors include her son, Mark and his wife, Dana, Tulsa: her daughter, Mercedes Zamudio, San Antonio, Texas: five grandchildren, Michael Zamudio, Bonnie Pappas and husband, Tom, John Zamudio, Carrie Dell' Accio and husband, Peter, and Stephen Zamudio, and 10 great grandchildren, Jasmine, Christopher, David, Anna, Lissa, Heather, Marissa, Jaxson, Gabriel and Sarah, and her sister, Lee Kinlay of Capetown, South Africa.