Ruby Ann Usher

Ruby Ann (Granner) Usher, 95, of Hilliard Ohio passed away peacefully at the Trueman Pointe Care Center on September 4, 2026, entering into the arms of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She was born on January 27, 1931 in Charles City, Iowa to Paul and Catherine Granner. Ruby, her husband Rex Usher and their young family relocated to Toledo, Ohio in 1954 becoming long-time residents of Point Place.

Ruby, fun-loving, hard-working and generous, was a loving and devoted wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother and great grandmother as well as a dear friend to many. She served Point Place United Church of Christ faithfully throughout her membership there.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Rex Usher; parents, Paul and Catherine Granner; brothers, Paul Granner Jr., James Granner, and Robert Granner; sisters, Beth (Granner) Weiss and Carolyn Granner; and daughter-in-law, Mary (Kent) Usher.

Ruby is survived by her loving children, sons, David (Candy) Usher, Kent (aka Tiny) Usher, and Jeff (Jan) Usher and daughter, Cely (Randy) LaGrange; grandchildren, Samantha (Ben) Walker, Mark Usher, Matthew (Jenni) Usher, Andy (Jennifer) LaGrange, Ryan (Mandi) LaGrange, Jeff (Tailyn) Usher and Jillian Usher; great grandchildren, Allison (Brendan) Samuelson, Madeleine Usher, Luke LaGrange, Eli LaGrange, Austin LaGrange, Addison LaGrange, Hudson LaGrange and Emmah Usher; and many extended family members and beloved friends.

A memorial service for Ruby will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 11:00am, at Point Place United Church of Christ, in Toledo, Ohio, followed by lunch in the Fellowship Hall.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Ruby’s memory to Point Place United Church of Christ.

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What was your Mom like when you were a child?

By David L. Usher

I’ve been putting this question off for weeks because I knew it would be a hard one for me to answer. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to remember enough characteristics and events to give a complete enough picture of my mother. I suspected that it would be emotional for me, a “softy” at heart. My mother is still living and turned 90 a few months ago. It is late April, 2021, as I write this. My father passed away several years ago, and my mother had remained living in their house (the one we moved into just after I was graduated from high school, the house where I lived with them during my college years). She lived there by herself after my dad passed away, often visiting or being visited by friends, attending church, going out for lunch with her lady-friends, shopping, and such. My youngest sibling, Jeff, lives less than 2 miles from that house, and he and his wife, Jan dropped in on mom often and helped her with whatever she needed. Unfortunately, when the COVID-19 virus pandemic began, she had to stop attending church, visiting or being visited, and cut way back on shopping. She had to “hole up” in her house for months. She could no longer drive herself, so she depended on Jeff and Jan for transportation to doctor’s appointments, and such, with all wearing masks (for the virus). Because of her health, she had to move into an assisted care facility last Autumn. It is a very nice place, and she seems to be doing well. She has a few of her personal belongings in her room, but her house and other possessions will eventually be given up. Through all of this, losing her husband, living alone, isolated from friends, health problems, two of her four adult children living 3 hours away, another living 15 hours away, losing her ability to drive her car, losing her independence, having to leave her house and belongings, and starting a new life in an unfamiliar environment and situation, she has seldom if ever complained. She has taken all this in-stride. She is not one to feel sorry for herself (or she surely doesn’t show it). That’s my mom. {See, I’m getting emotional already, and I haven’t even started on the “… when I was a child” part of the question.}

The first thing I think of is that, when I was a child, my mother was young. She was 18 years old when I was born and 20 when my brother Kent (“Tiny”) was born. Before she married my dad she lived with her parents on North Jackson street in Charles City, Iowa. Her three older siblings had moved away from home and had families of their own by the time my mom married, leaving her the “big sister” to her two younger siblings (still living with their parents). My Gramma Granner (Catherine) was happy (I’m sure) that mom and dad (and little David and Kent) lived nearby, and I think my mom got a lot of help (taking care of us) from her mom. I have the memory that “we” were over at their house quite often. I think my mom was graduated from high school “early” (by one semester, so she would have finished in Winter instead of late Spring). I’ve heard that she was a very good student, and I definitely believe it. I remember getting a peek at her old report cards once, and her grades were very good.

After we moved to Toledo and it was time for me to begin kindergarten mom walked me to school the first day, showing me the “preferred” way through our new neighborhood. I remember that the mothers were allowed to see their children into the kindergarten classroom that first day, then after a while the teacher told the mothers that it was time to go. One of the boys put up quite a fuss when his mother left. It surprised me at the time. I’m sure that in the days leading up to that first day of school my mom told me how much fun kindergarten was going to be. That’s just how she would have done it. After that first day I didn’t need my mother to walk me to school anymore. It wasn’t a very long walk, anyway, and there were usually several kids from the neighborhood to tag along with, including the boy who had cried that first day. He would become one of my best childhood friends. I’m remembering (but it’s fuzzy) that kindergarten, in those days, was not a full day (like 1st through 6th grades were). I know I started in the morning. Regardless, I would still have had lunch at home. I ate lunch at home my entire school career from kindergarten through 8th grade. Some of the kids, those who lived far enough away from school that they rode the bus plus those whose parents wanted them to stay the whole day, brought their lunches and ate at school, after which they had an outdoor “recess”. I walked home for lunch then walked back to school for the afternoon sessions. We were released at 11:30 AM and were expected back by 1:00 PM each school day. My mom always had a nice lunch waiting for us. Usually it was a soup and sandwich and milk. The soups would often be chicken noodle or tomato, and the sandwiches would be baloney on white bread (with butter and mayonnaise), peanut butter, or braunschweiger. Of course, we had to have saltine crackers or oyster crackers with our soup. Macaroni and cheese was another favorite. I always ate lunch with Tiny. When Tiny and I were little, my mother was a “housewife” (as they use to say) and a “stay-at-home-mom” (as they say these days), so she was always there to help us with breakfast and send us off to school in the mornings, serve us lunch at midday and send us back to school, then welcome us home after school in the afternoon. I doubt that I thought about this as a child, but that environment, that routine, must have made me feel very safe and secure. Tiny and I would watch a children’s show on TV after school, maybe have a cookie and milk, do our “homework” then go out and play with our friends until my dad came home from work. We always ate supper as a family. Our family had just one car during that period, which my dad took to work, so mom stayed home all day (weekdays) and/or visited with neighborhood lady-friends (at her house or at theirs) and/or got a ride with friends to go shopping, etc. She had several lady-friends (usually other mothers of grade-school kids) within easy walking distance in our neighborhood, and they would get together often to chat and for a cup of tea. Several times over the years she was a “room mother” at our school (for my classroom or Tiny’s or, later, Cely’s or Jeff’s), helping the teachers with special fun days and holiday parties. Speaking of parties, my mom would always make us a birthday cake and host a houseful of children to help us celebrate, playing games and eating ice cream and cake. Usually, my Aunt Nita would be there to help. Naturally, our cousins Donnie and Gigi would have been invited, in addition to our neighborhood buddies and a few school classmates and kids from church. Now that I think of it, my mom helped make it a great life for us kids. When we were in Cub Scouts, that is Tiny and I, mom was a “Den Mother” for a while. When we got a different Den Mother, mom and Aunt Nita would still pitch in to assist (with crafts and projects, etc.) at our Den meetings. When Tiny and I were little boys we would sometimes pick violets and dandelions for our mommy on the way home from school. She always made such a fuss about them. Her favorites were Lilacs, they smelled so good, and we would try to bring those when we could. They are my favorite also. My mom has always had a fear of snakes. If a snake appeared on TV or in a movie she would close her eyes and ask us to tell her when it was gone. Of course, being a boy, snakes were a sought-after plaything when I was out and about in the neighborhood. Once, when I was very young (not knowing better) I brought a wiggling treasure into the house to proudly show my mom, who was washing dishes at the kitchen sink. She screamed and ran out of the house across the front yard and into the street, yelling at me to get that thing out of the house. I remember being quite amused at the time, but I knew better than to ever do it again. There were a couple of years when Tiny and I and Donnie took tap-dancing lessons. We have some old home movies (8mm film) showing us doing our stuff. It is comical. Mom sewed costumes for us for our big “recital”. { Fred Astaire was not losing any sleep. } Cely, also took dancing lessons, and her “career” was much longer than ours. My mom made several costumes for Cely’s dance recitals, as well as several matching Mother/Daughter outfits over the years.

At some time after sister Cely and brother Jeff came along, I can’t remember exactly when, mom had to get a job to help support the family. I wouldn’t say we were poor - we were working class - but my parents had to be really careful with their money. You did not waste anything. Both parents grew up during the Great Depression. My dad’s job at the window factory provided a stable income over the years (he worked there until he retired), but his wages were not high. Mom’s “extra” income helped, I’m sure. My mom had worked a couple of jobs when she was a teenager back in Charles City (as a bank teller and at the movie theater ticket window). After being a stay-at-home-mom until Jeff was in kindergarten or first grade (around 1964-65, I’m guessing) she had a series of jobs, including factory work as well as office work, from her early thirties until she retired in her late sixties (I think). My folks paid one of the neighborhood mothers a little money to “stage” Cely and Jeff at her house just before they walked to grade school in the morning. Then that neighbor would have lunch for them (at noon), and they stopped there after school until my mom (or me or Tiny?) picked them up. My folks didn’t really discuss their money situation with us kids (even with me, being the oldest), but I’m sure that this neighborhood “childcare” ($$$) was very, very, very modest by today’s standards. Still, the wages from my mom’s first couple of jobs (factory jobs) was also very, very modest. One of her jobs was as a laborer at a paper box factory. Another was as a laborer on the assembly line at an ice cream factory. Those were good times for us kids, since the “mistakes” would be set aside for the workers to take home if desired. For example, if ice cream bars had crooked sticks or were under-filled they were thrown away (i.e., available for take-home). That factory made Heath Bars (ice cream) - we were so “spoiled”. For these first couple of jobs my mom had she “car pooled” with other women from Point Place (our part of Toledo), and she made some life-long friends among several Polish ladies (i.e., Catholics) whose children we would not have seen at church or at grade school. I remember that those factory jobs were kind of “seasonal”, meaning there were frequent layoffs (i.e., temporary, but unpredictable, furloughs), where mom would not have any pay except for unemployment compensation from the state of Ohio, which never made up for the lost wages. Another job she got later, I believe through a neighborhood friend (mother of one of my school classmates), was in the office at a small company which did metallic brazing. She worked there for several years. I think I was in my late teens at that time, because I was able to drive. I remember having to drive there (at least once), far across town, to pick mom up because she was having an attack of Meniere’s disease. Oh my!!! You do not want that affliction!!! She has had it for years, although for about the last twenty years her attacks (episodes of symptoms) have been nowhere near as severe as they had been. The last part of her work career was spent in the office of a credit union. That is the position she held for many years and from which she retired.

Well, I’ve gone somewhat past the “…when you were a child” era, so let me double-back for a few additional comments about my mom. She was a fun mom. She was a snacker (that might be where I get that tendency). We had popcorn so often, and I mean a lot of it. We’d sometimes be sitting there, watching TV at night, when - all of a sudden - she’d get a gleam in her eye and a smile on her face then ask us kids “Should we have ice cream?” {Can you guess our answer?} “How about banana splits?” You get the picture. Other times, when we went to a drive-in movie theater at night, she would pop two paper shopping bags full of popcorn, one for her and dad and one for us kids, and make a gallon of Kool-Ade in a Thermos Jug (so we didn’t have to pay concession stand prices for refreshments). We would watch the cartoons and the “B” movie (usually cowboys), already wearing our PJ’s, with socks, and often would be asleep by the main feature.

My mom always encouraged me in my school work, and Sunday school, and Cub Scouts, and Boy Scouts, and DeMolay. She was always supportive of my efforts in those areas and appreciated whatever help I could give in looking after my two youngest siblings, Cely and Jeff. {Tiny, Kent, was my copilot.} She always taught me the “right” way to think and the “right” way to act, and I don’t just mean the correct way - I mean the ethical way, the fair way, the considerate way, the way of the “Golden Rule”. She taught me by her words and by her deeds. I am so very, very lucky to have had Ruby Usher as my mother.

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