Center reunites 'Friends of Ruth'

DETROIT – Her name may be on the building, but for the staff of the Ruth Ellis Center that's not enough. They want the feisty spirit of the late centenarian to pervade their drop-in and transitional living centers and inspire all who walk through their doors. To that end, REC hosted the first Friends of Ruth gathering March 25 at the Institute for Holistic Living in Detroit.
"We feel we're continuing Ruth's work the way she would want it to be done," said Beth Bashert, organizer of the event and a development consultant to the agency. "If we don't keep in touch with Ruth and who she was we lose sight of things. So we're going to keep getting together with Ruth's friends to keep Ruth in our work."
Ellis died in October 2000, at the age of 101, but not before becoming something of a celebrity. An entrepreneur, Ellis ran her own print shop in Detroit by day. At night and on the weekends, she opened up the doors of her house, which she shared with her partner Cecilene "Babe" Franklin, to LGBT youth in the city. But she was more than just a hostess to these teenagers and young adults. Ellis provided a safe haven for them, as well as emotional and often financial support.
"Her home was the first lesbian and gay social services center in the city of Detroit and she didn't even know it," said Kofi Adoma, co-chair of REC's board.
In her later years, Ruth lived downtown in a senior citizen's apartment building. But she never slowed down. On the contrary, Ruth, who loved to dance, kept busy right up until the end. She took exercise and self-defense classes, visited with friends at the local senior citizen's center and ran errands for her neighbors in the building. In 1999, she won national acclaim when the documentary "Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100" took home top honors at film festivals across the country. Suddenly Ellis was thrust into the spotlight, billed as the nation's oldest living out African-American lesbian.
Ellis was still living in 1999 when a group of activists got together and decided to build a shelter for homeless LGBT youth. She graciously allowed the group permission to use her name and cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the REC's drop-in center just months before her death.
Since then, many of her closest friends, those who took her both dancing and to the doctor's office, have lost contact. But the staff of REC wants to rectify that by hosting regular Friends of Ruth meetings.
"We want to have them meet with us more often to help us on projects or to initiate projects themselves," said Grace McClelland, REC's executive director.
It's an idea the 60 or so Friends of Ruth in attendance Thursday appeared in favor of. They shared stories of Ruth and looked through a large photo album full of pictures before dining on smoked cheese and sun-dried tomato ravioli.
"It's almost making me cry to see everyone and see pictures," said Sarah Uhle, Ellis' longtime friend and the executor of her estate. "It's really good to see everybody here. We haven't talked to each other since she died."
The staff at REC would like to help Ruth's friends not only stay in touch but also become more active with the center. Each received a REC membership certificate at the gathering and a proposal of how they could help keep Ruth's memory alive. Adoma asked each of Ruth's friends to make an annual donation to the center of $50 or more, spend one day a year at the center volunteering their skills and, perhaps most importantly, take some time to talk to the kids at the center services about their old friend.
"They don't know who she was but you can bring that to them," Adoma said.
Meanwhile, those that did know Ellis say she will never be forgotten.
"She was courageous," said Renee McCoy, whose ample bosom Ruth loved to rest her head upon. "It was all about courage. I think that people still draw on that spirit of courage. I know that I do."