Ruth (Knopf) Tooze

Ruth Elinor Tooze, age 83, of Milwaukie, Oregon, passed away on February 5, 2022, surviving almost 10 years with Multiple Myeloma.  

Ruth was born in Portland, Oregon on May 21,1938 to William and Lois (Underwood) Knopf, and spent her childhood and adult years living in Milwaukie, Oregon. She attended Milwaukie High School, Class of 1956, earned her Bachelor’s degree at Oregon State University, and finished up her education at OHSU as a Registered Nurse.  She married Walter Tooze IV shortly after graduating and raised three of their children together: Charisse, Jeff and Diane Tooze.  She worked passionately in public and mental health for Clackamas County as an RN for many years, then switched gears and took over operations of the family shipping business. After her husband passed, she became President and Chairwoman of Seaport Shipping Company, Tooze & Associates, and Olde Towne Travel Service, as well as the Old Belmont Square Real Estate Building Complex.  When she finally sold these businesses, she ventured back to her core passion as an RN and worked as a manager for the Oregon Department of Human Services Nursing Facility Program. 

Ruth carried herself as a quiet, strong, graceful presence (a Jackie Kennedy lookalike, people often said), with a spirit of beauty and poise.  She loved participating in and watching sports, especially the Trailblazers. She enjoyed seeing the progression of women athletes become commonplace over the years, as she was a pioneering athlete herself, becoming one of the first members of an all-female basketball team in high school.  One of her favorite sports-related hobbies was attending all of her children and grandchildren’s sporting events no matter how far the drive or how often.  They could always count on her presence in the grandstands, cheering them on.

She held a special gift in connecting with animals, an uncanny knack in understanding their emotions and needs.  She sought out the company of both cats and dogs and lit up when a squirrel perched on her deck, or reveled at the patterns of geese flying overhead, and regularly fed a wild rabbit who roamed her neighborhood.

Anything related to jazz was Ruth’s first musical choice.  She saved Friday nights for jazz dinner outings, loved jazz concerts and the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, and KMHD Radio often played in the background at home or in the car.  Not one to dance around wildly, you would instead hear the sound of her well-manicured fingernails tapping quietly on a table or the steering wheel in her car, where she eventually chipped away at the surfaces with so much tapping.

She was particular about the usage of words and what they implied, making her not only a genius word game player, but also savvy about word choices in everyday language. She would remind her children, for instance, to use the word “dislike” instead of “hate,” “quiet” instead of “shut-up,” and not to respond with “No problem!” when asked to do something, as this phrase implied the task was actually a problem.

Ruth volunteered on many local boards and committees, helped friends and neighbors when in need of care, and would do anything for any family member at the drop of a hat.

People could sense an overall integrity about her through the accumulation of her subtle actions and habits.  She loved to walk two miles a day, attributing this to her longevity and energy; never felt sorry for herself, but showed empathy for others; let the cat out in the middle of the night, even though she loved uninterrupted sleep; never burdened anyone with complaining, but listened attentively to others’ woes; and she persevered through the toughest times with a quiet, intelligent grace. These, and more, held true until the very end, pointing herself steadily toward the silver lining.  In the last two months of her life, while riding on a golf cart to watch her grandson, Emerson, play golf, she said “This is what I’ll do in my next life, play golf.”  In the face of death, she still found something hopeful within it.  

She has been a model human being who is proof that living life joyously resides in the choices we make, as well as how we wish to perceive those choices.

She is survived by her daughters Charisse Tooze and Diane Tooze Storer (Tyler), son Jeffrey Tooze (Traci), grandchildren Matthew Foley, Halsea Tooze, Peyton Tooze, Kalia Storer, Emerson Storer, and niece Stephanie Parrish.  She is preceded in death by her mother and father, her husband, and her sister Linnell (Wallace) Parker.

A Celebration of Life will be held in her honor on February 22, 2022. Please go to the “events” page to RSVP no later than Wednesday, Feb 16th.

In memoriam donations are directed to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation:

https://give.themmrf.org/in-memory-of-Ruth-Tooze

Providence Portland Medical Foundation:

https://orppm.give.providence.org/in-memory-of-Ruth-Tooze