KELSEYVILLE — Official Lake County Historian Ruby Davis Glebe passed away Feb. 3 after a brief illness. She was 104 years old, and was a prominent figure in Lake County, living 81 years in the area.
Her funeral will be held at the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church on Friday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m.
Glebe was one of just a few people to hold the title of Lake County Historian created by noted local history keeper and former county supervisor Henry Mauldin.
Glebe’s friend and fellow historian Bonnie Skee said Tuesday that Glebe was “a wealth of knowledge.”
“Her memory was wonderful,” Skee said. “She could come up with so many details, it was amazing. She was an amazing person.”
Until recently, Glebe would reportedly drive herself weekly into Lakeport from her home in Kelseyville, to have her hair done and to shop for groceries.
Kelseyville resident Marilyn Holdenried said that Glebe was surprisingly active despite her age. During the 2015 Kelseyville Pear Festival, Holdenried said, Glebe heard some fiddle music she liked. “To the amazement of all, there was Ruby out on the dance floor, dancing with her nephew.”
Following are excerpts from an elegy to Glebe written by her niece, Evie Gray.
“As an adult, Ruby moved to Walteria (now part of Torrance, CA) where she served as a home worker, a cook, and at times she also did housework for 25 cents an hour. Then she moved to the San Joaquin Valley where her mother ran an 80-acre cotton ranch while her father ran a well-drilling business. Ruby moved to Lake County in 1937, where she married George Davis in 1940. Their son, Richard, was born in July 1944.
“In 1945 George was stricken with myelitis, and was paralyzed below the waist. In those days, there was no Home Health Service, but, with help from some wonderful neighbors, Ruby cared for George and baby Richard for the next three years. And then George died. He was 39.
“In 1957 Ruby married Herman Glebe of Kelseyville and they moved to the ranch inherited by Herman that was purchased by the Glebe family in 1914. They remodeled the house and then built a new home on a hill five miles from town in the early 1970’s.
“Ruby worked for the County in what was then called the “Welfare Department” (now the Social Services Department), and retired in 1978.
“With retirement, Ruby and Herman were able to enjoy their interest in travel. They visited China when it was first opened to American travelers in the 1970’s. They toured South Africa, as well as New Zealand, with a stop at the geothermal geysers on the North Island. They visited family in Germany, and toured Paris and the French Riviera with a niece. They traveled by train throughout Australia, and toured all of Alaska with their granddaughter, Michelle.”
