Ruth Aileen Kirwin's Obituary
Ruth Aileen Banes Kirwin was born in Zion, Illinois to Mary Ester Paul Banes and Clyde Richard Banes on November 29, 1932. She was brought into this world by a midwife at their family home. She was the fifth child out of seven. Her older brothers were Paul, Roy, and Kenny. She had one older sister, Grace, and two younger sisters, Ida, and Helen.
As a young girl she enjoyed spending lots of time outdoors. Her family farm and orchards were a great place to play games like tag or hide and seek with her brothers and sisters. She also loved listening to her mother, who was a concert pianist, fill the house with beautiful music. Ruth learned how to play piano, but her true passion was cooking. She loved to cook and bake. She was always in the kitchen helping her mother and she made preparing a meal for 30 people look effortless. Seeing people enjoy her meals and desserts brought her great joy. We are so blessed that she wrote down and passed along many of her and her mother’s recipes. Ruth also enjoyed school, and she went on to graduate from Holy Child High School in Waukegan, Illinois.
Then in September of 1957, Ruth, Ida, Helen, and their mother moved to Belmont Shores in Long Beach, CA. She worked as head teller for Bank of American and enjoyed the sun and surf of southern California. Which is where she met her future husband, Hugh Kirwin, who had recently been honorably discharged from the United States Navy after serving during the Korean War. During those days, Long Beach was the main port for the United States Navy on the West coast. Needless to say, Ruth and her sisters enjoyed their 20’s living in Long Beach. All their friends loved her family and mother, and it was very common to have extra guests for dinner. Nothing like great company to share a delicious home cooked meal with. Ruth, Hugh, Ida and her boyfriend would spend many evenings dancing the night away, cruising the coast in Hugh’s Buick convertible, or playing in the surf. Hugh and Ruth were married on October 3, 1959, at St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church.
For the next 7 years, Hugh and Ruth traveled and lived up and down the California coast while Hugh worked on various top level government contracts including the nuclear submarine program. During this time Hugh and Ruth welcomed the birth of David, Patricia, Colleen, and Hugh. Their travels then took them to the East Coast where they welcomed the birth of their youngest, Patrick. Their travels eventually led them to Texas in 1970 where they settled and raised their family. Hugh worked at the Naval base in Grand Prairie and eventually became one of the original mechanics with the new Southwest Airlines. Ruth’s love of cooking and having others over, including all her kids friends, continued throughout her life. Whenever she had lasagna there was sure to be a houseful of family and friends. She was devoted to raising her kids to be well centered, intelligent Godly people. She often said, “Her family was the joy of her life.” In the summer of 1988, she and Hugh were ready to begin the next phase of their life together after all the kids were finally married. Unfortunately, Hugh suddenly became ill and within 6 weeks God took him home.
Ruth and Hugh were the proud grandparents of 16 grandchildren: David II, Michael, Joseph, Brian, Christopher, Austin, Mary, Kyle, Jacob, Brandon, Elizabeth, Donovan, Sean, Lauren, Rozlyn, and Grace. They were also blessed with 29 great grandchildren. Each grandchild was blessed to know and feel the love of their grandmother. She loved baking cookies whenever the grandkids would be around, as well as, making her amazing homemade meals. She made sure every holiday and birthday was special and celebrated with love and family fellowship.
In 2013 she moved in with her daughter Colleen and family due to being diagnosed with dementia and memory loss. For 11 years she was blessed to live in a home filled with love. In 2022 she moved to a memory care unit where she was treated with kindness and respect from their wonderful loving staff. On Saturday, October 19, 2024, God took her home.
She is survived by sister Ida Banes, sister Helen Banes, son David (Sharon)Kirwin, daughter Patricia Mount, daughter Colleen (Glen) Willis, son Hugh Kirwin Jr., son Patrick (Camille) Kirwin, 15 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren, 15 nieces and nephews, and numerous great nieces and nephews.
She is preceded in death by husband Hugh Kirwin, mother Mary Ester Paul Banes, father Clyde R. Banes, brothers Paul Banes, Roy (Anne) Banes, Kenneth (Jeannie) Banes, sister Grace Banes, grandsons Sean Kirwin, great grandson Kaiden Kirwin, nieces Barbara Banes Millan, Deanne Banes, Desiree Mallery.
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