A Tribute to a Life Well-Lived
I was at the gym at 5 a.m. this morning reading a filched copy of the Los Angeles Times while I was riding the recumbant bike. I don't read the newspaper as often as I used to, mainly because I now get most of my news online. As I turned a page in the B section, I was saddened to see the photo and obituary of one of my favorite professors in grad school. Ruth Roemer was a giant--an icon--in the world of public health. She and her late husband, Milton Roemer, were leaders at UCLA's School of Public Health and focused their research and their advocacy on improving the public's health both from a legal and medical perspective. He (a medical doctor) focused his research on universal health insurance and HMOs, among other things. She (a lawyer) helped to organize abortion law reform in California, campaigned to add fluoride to public water supply systems, and worked on tobacco control issues and myriad other public health issues.
When Ruth Roemer found out I was a single mother with three young children trying to work and earn my master's degree at the same time, she became a mother figure to me. One Christmas, I had absolutely no money to buy a Christmas tree and was feeling kind of blue about that (you know how kids want to see a Christmas tree during the Christmas season!). This wonderful Jewish woman lent me a bamboo Christmas tree with ornaments already on it. It was something she had picked up during her travels. Since she didn't observe Christmas (of course!), she didn't mind my using it to celebrate Christmas with my children. She was such a sweetheart. Later, she nominated me for a fellowship that paid my tuition for 1 year and gave me a stipend of I think about $1000 a month, or something like that. Whatever it was, it made a BIG difference in my life, and in my children's lives as well.
And also, how could I forget her trusty typewriter? In the mid-90s, computers were well-established in academia, but Ruth Roemer clung, for some strange and inexplicable reason, to this ancient typewriter that had lots of quirks but no ink. Random letters that would skip or type out half a line higher. Faded or smeared or partial letters that one could hardly read. A friend who works in the department told me that Dr. Roemer's typewriter was so old the ribbon was no longer manufactured or sold, so someone in the department had to manually re-ink the existing ribbon so that Dr. Roemer could continue to use her trusty typewriter to write her many many letters of recommendation for her students.
One thing that really stood out: Ruth Roemer's devotion to her husband. She kept him going for many years, even when his health was failing.
One last anecdote: I remember a friend and I were looking at the schedule of classes trying to figure out what classes to take that quarter. We went down the list, class by class, teacher by teacher, debating the merits of taking each class that particular quarter. When we came to the name Milton Roemer, we both said THAT is the class to take! He's big! He's a giant! In almost all of the early health services articles we had to read that year, Dr. M. Roemer was cited. We wanted bragging rights, to be able to say we had had the privilege of having been taught by the great Milton Roemer. Unfortunately, the class time either conflicted with a required class or it was held at a ridiculous evening hour, so we couldn't take it, regrettably. But we (well, I did, I'm not sure about my friend!) did take Ruth Roemer's Public Health Law class, and Milton Roemer came in as a guest lecturer and I also heard his lectures on the Canadian healthcare system and international health in other classes, so I WAS a student of BOTH Roemers!
Ruth Roemer was almost as old as my grandmother, yet she was so youthful in outlook and so approachable! It tickled me that most of the faculty and staff in Health Services called her "Ruth". I could never bring myself to call her by her first name....she was just too iconic for me to do that. It was always "Dr." Roemer, even though she had a J.D., instead of an M.D. or a Ph.D. I always had such respect for her....I put her on a pedestal, though she would have pooh-poohed that notion.
I will always remember Ruth Roemer not only for her compassionate nature, but also for the twinkle in her eye that masked a sly wit. She wasn't laughing AT you, she was laughing WITH you! At least, that's what I kept telling myself......
Ruth Roemer, together with her husband, Dr. Milton Roemer, was a true blue activist who tried very hard to leave the world a better place than she had found it. I believe that she succeeded....the world IS a better place becaue of her efforts. I will truly miss her. May Ruth Roemer rest in peace.
When Ruth Roemer found out I was a single mother with three young children trying to work and earn my master's degree at the same time, she became a mother figure to me. One Christmas, I had absolutely no money to buy a Christmas tree and was feeling kind of blue about that (you know how kids want to see a Christmas tree during the Christmas season!). This wonderful Jewish woman lent me a bamboo Christmas tree with ornaments already on it. It was something she had picked up during her travels. Since she didn't observe Christmas (of course!), she didn't mind my using it to celebrate Christmas with my children. She was such a sweetheart. Later, she nominated me for a fellowship that paid my tuition for 1 year and gave me a stipend of I think about $1000 a month, or something like that. Whatever it was, it made a BIG difference in my life, and in my children's lives as well.
And also, how could I forget her trusty typewriter? In the mid-90s, computers were well-established in academia, but Ruth Roemer clung, for some strange and inexplicable reason, to this ancient typewriter that had lots of quirks but no ink. Random letters that would skip or type out half a line higher. Faded or smeared or partial letters that one could hardly read. A friend who works in the department told me that Dr. Roemer's typewriter was so old the ribbon was no longer manufactured or sold, so someone in the department had to manually re-ink the existing ribbon so that Dr. Roemer could continue to use her trusty typewriter to write her many many letters of recommendation for her students.
One thing that really stood out: Ruth Roemer's devotion to her husband. She kept him going for many years, even when his health was failing.
One last anecdote: I remember a friend and I were looking at the schedule of classes trying to figure out what classes to take that quarter. We went down the list, class by class, teacher by teacher, debating the merits of taking each class that particular quarter. When we came to the name Milton Roemer, we both said THAT is the class to take! He's big! He's a giant! In almost all of the early health services articles we had to read that year, Dr. M. Roemer was cited. We wanted bragging rights, to be able to say we had had the privilege of having been taught by the great Milton Roemer. Unfortunately, the class time either conflicted with a required class or it was held at a ridiculous evening hour, so we couldn't take it, regrettably. But we (well, I did, I'm not sure about my friend!) did take Ruth Roemer's Public Health Law class, and Milton Roemer came in as a guest lecturer and I also heard his lectures on the Canadian healthcare system and international health in other classes, so I WAS a student of BOTH Roemers!
Ruth Roemer was almost as old as my grandmother, yet she was so youthful in outlook and so approachable! It tickled me that most of the faculty and staff in Health Services called her "Ruth". I could never bring myself to call her by her first name....she was just too iconic for me to do that. It was always "Dr." Roemer, even though she had a J.D., instead of an M.D. or a Ph.D. I always had such respect for her....I put her on a pedestal, though she would have pooh-poohed that notion.
I will always remember Ruth Roemer not only for her compassionate nature, but also for the twinkle in her eye that masked a sly wit. She wasn't laughing AT you, she was laughing WITH you! At least, that's what I kept telling myself......
Ruth Roemer, together with her husband, Dr. Milton Roemer, was a true blue activist who tried very hard to leave the world a better place than she had found it. I believe that she succeeded....the world IS a better place becaue of her efforts. I will truly miss her. May Ruth Roemer rest in peace.
posted by knutty4knitting @ 9:37 AM
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