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July 15, 2021
It’s nice to be Dr. Ruth.
What’s not to like? She born Karola Ruth Siegel in Karlstadt, Germany on June 4, 1928. Picture taken before she moved to US and before she spoke a word of English. She is 2 months older than my own Mom. She is a year older than Anne Frank, who was born in June 1929. I met her in 2004 but was thrilled to get her alone for a breakfast in October 2014 in Tarrytown, NY.
People are always surprised that she is not just diminutive but 4'7"--yes, 4'7"--and that she was once a trained and active sniper in Israel. An explosion and serious injuries abruptly ended that phase of her life. (She says she was a good shot.) She is playful, and says provocative things. She of course is culturally liberal but surprisingly conservative in some respects politically.
I asked her near the end of breakfast if I could get her anything else but within seconds 2 waiters and a busboy were fawning over her with the same question and she told them what she wanted. A victorious and beaming server brought it to our table. Some famous people might have been embarrassed at the fuss made over her. She smiled mischievously at me and just said: "It's nice to be Dr. Ruth."
Posted by JD Hull at 06:04 AM | Comments (0)