Ruby Lee Tata

Obituary

Thousand Oaks, CA

Ruby Lee Tata, 88, died on May 8, 2021, in Thousand Oaks, her home of 46 years.

Born on December 14, 1932 in Blue Ridge, Georgia, she was the daughter of James William Trammell and Emma Mae (Sisson) Trammell, and the sister of Ruth and Clyde. The salutatorian of her high school class, she graduated as an R.N. from Georgia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta, where she met her future husband and was married. Upon graduation she had a large responsibility at a rural hospital, and she worked in several states before becoming a mother. After her children were grown, she worked again in the maternity ward at Los Robles Hospital before becoming a volunteer there for a quarter of a century. The doctor she worked for the year after high school urged her to become a nurse because she was a "natural," and she was.

When she made a friend, she simply assumed the friendship was lifelong and did her part to keep it that way. When children were born in her large extended family or to friends, she would crochet beautiful baby blankets for them. She was quiet but never meek, strong but always loving, steadfast in her faith in God.

Temporarily in Pennsylvania soon after her wedding, she applied for a job at a Catholic hospital, and when she walked in the door the nun doing the hiring said she was the answer to their prayers. She recalled, with typical modesty and delight, "I had never been the answer to anyone's prayers before!" She was the answer to ours.

Beloved wife, mother, aunt, cousin, and friend, she is survived by her husband of 65 years, Richard Tata; and by her sons, Rick Tata (Martha Robles) and Jim Tata.