Ruby Ray Blackhurst

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Listen to Aunt Ruby | Another sound bite

Ruby Ray (Chambers) Blackhurst was a young teen when her mother Mary Magelena Nance Ray died in 1919. Ruby was the youngest of 5 children born to "Maggie" and James Buchanan Ray, two had died before she was born. When her mother passed away, the family was living with "Maggie's" brother Leonduis Nance and his family in Camden, Arkansas.

Ruby hopped around to a couple of relative's homes before going to Vashti Industrial School, a boarding school in Georgia. She stayed in Georgia until she graduated from high school at age 19. Sometime between going to Georgia and after her mother died, she lived with her Aunt Rosa Ray Crawford. It is believed that it was Aunt Rosie who financed Ruby's education.

She returned to Kentucky after graduation but later moved to Detroit. Both her brothers relocated to Detroit but Lew bounced around from Detroit to Kentucky. Elmer stayed in Detroit and worked for Packard cars for a number of years. He later became a lay minister for his church.

Ruby had many of the family photos that seem to have survived the moves. I am compiling these photos - they are wonderful!