There will be a celebration of life for Ruth Dick, 76, on Aug. 1 at 3 p.m. in the Haines ANB Hall. A potluck featuring her favorite dish, chicken adobo, will follow. She died peacefully June 5 at the Sitka Pioneer Home, where she had lived for four years. 

“It was just her time,” said daughter Rhonda Degtoff. Dick lived most of her life in Haines. She was a L’uknax.ádi (coho salmon) of the Raven moiety.

She loved her family, the singer Tom Jones, forget-me-nots, watching Native dancing and being with friends.  

“Ruth was an ‘up’ kind of person,” said friend Doris Bell. She liked to lead her friends in singing “You Are My Sunshine.” “She had some hard knocks and kept soldiering on with a smile on her face and a little hat on her head,” Bell said. 

Dick was a member of ANS Camp 5, the Chilkoot Indian Association, the American Legion Unit 12 Auxiliary and enjoyed volunteering at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. 

Ruth Dick was born July 29,1949 in Juneau. Her parents were Mary Young and Richard A. Dick Sr. She grew up in foster care in Hoonah and did not have fond memories, her daughter said. 

“Both my parents recalled beatings for speaking their language.” Because of that, Dick did not identify with her culture until later in life and then it brought her joy, Degtoff said 

She married Randolph Williams Sr. in October 1968 and had the first of her four children the following year. She spent much of her life as a single parent. Degtoff’s earliest memories of her mother are in Juneau, climbing the steep stairs up the hill to their apartment, carrying groceries. 

“She had all the bags and a baby on her hip, corralling three little ones. “I’m proud of her,” Degtoff said. “She was a great mom.”

She leaves brothers Wes and Paul Dick; children Rhonda Degtoff of Haines, Mary Uyanik of Juneau, Randy Williams Jr. of Juneau and Manette Hogue of Juneau; grandchildren Adam Williams, Nicholas Degtoff, Meganne Clarke, Ashley Williams, Sam Uyanik and Rebecca and Eliza Hogue. 

Her brother Richard Dick preceded her in death.

Donations toward funeral expenses are gratefully accepted at the service on Aug. 1, or at P.O. Box 316.