Ruby Patricia Bradley Hammel

Our loving mother passed away gracefully at her home of 66 years after many of her family and dear friends held her hand and shared their gratitude and love. Our mother is flying free now, sending love and light to all whose lives she touched.

Ruby was born in Malad, Idaho in 1928. She was the youngest of six children born to Iver E. Bradley, from Hyrum, Utah, and Bobbie Routh Pickett, from Garland, Texas. Her mother was the School Marm when she met her husband Iver, who had recently acquired a dry farm in Pocatello Valley as part of the Homestead Act of 1862. The siblings had an idyllic childhood, many hours down in the holler, playing hiding games, telling stories, and singing songs. They had jobs to do, collecting and cleaning all the eggs their chickens laid to be sold to Utah Poultry. Their father would load up the flatbed to distribute eggs to Utah, then load the truck with fruit from Brigham City for the children to help peddle when he returned. The flatbed was also their recreational vehicle that took the clan to Yellowstone and other family gatherings in Hyrum.

Ruby’s father died when she was 11. The older siblings got jobs and sent money back home. A few years later, Ruby’s mother got a job at Hill Field Air Force base, they moved to the avenues in Salt Lake and Ruby attended Bryant Junior High School. At 15, Ruby moved to Albion, Idaho to stay with her sister when her mother found a job as a tutor in Nevada for a Basque family. People did what they needed to do. Ruby graduated from Albion High School at 17 because she was a bright student and she said, always had excellent teachers.

She left Albion and moved back to the avenues to begin college at the U of U in 1945. As a young co-ed working in the bookstore, she said she might have flirted a bit with Lee. But it wasn’t until her tennis partner didn’t show up at Reservoir Park that Lee had the nerve to ask her if she wanted to play. Ruby said, “maybe, are you any good?” She’d discover later that he was #2 on the U of U team.

Ruby and Lee married in December of 1946 and Lee got a job as a school teacher in little towns like Blanding, Loa, and Pioche, Nevada, where teachers were in strong demand. In ’54 it was back to Salt Lake to raise a family of three. Ruby was the youngest mom on the block and would play run-my-sheepy-run with the neighborhood children or take them on hikes in single file down into the gulley. She was ahead of her time in that she planned birthday parties with activities like a track meet or a hike.

She finished her teaching degree when her youngest, Brad was in first grade. By 1963, she was a teacher at Butler Elementary and later finished her career at Butler Middle after 25 years. She organized mock legislative sessions un which students passed their own bills. Ruby served as the Jordan Education Association President for two years and seven in total in leadership.

Ruby was a life-long Christian, one of the earliest members of the Holladay United Church of Christ in 1955, she’s become as much a part of the church as the soaring windows in the sanctuary. She was assistant choir director for 50 years, singing beautiful soprano solos. With close friends she formed the calypso group the Holladayos. Her children loved her sing alongs at vacation Bible School. Ruby used to sing “all God’s creatures got a place in the choir”, and that quote rang out during the service the Sunday after her death. Church was a big part of Ruby’s life. She was a big part of Church.

Ruby also cared deeply about the Church mission that included social justice. She was an active citizen. She was twice a delegate at the Democratic National Conventions. She was active in the JEA Political Action Committee, The Utah Education Association, The Political Action Committee of the AARP, and she served as the president of the Women's Legislative Council and the League of Women Voters, both nonpartisan groups. She was proud of making a difference and urged others to do the same.

And of course, she was one of the First Ladies of Tennis in Utah. She had quite the “volley”, loved playing doubles competitively, and taught others through her early 80’s. Lee and Ruby organized and ran the Tribune No-Champs for 25 years, and she was a strong partner with Lee when he Managed the Salt Lake Tennis Club from 1957-1964. She had her own teaching program during her later retirement years and had to hire extra coaches because she had too many sign up. Ruby and Lee and her 3 children were the Utah Tennis Family of the Year in 1964, The Intermountain Family of the Year in 2000, and The National Tennis Family of the Year in 2001. Ruby was inducted into the Utah Tennis Hall of Fame for her contributions to tennis in 2004.

And Bridge. The game was part of her life til the end, in 5 groups that played once a month. One group even kept it up during the pandemic but didn’t tell their children. There was also talk of a risqué ping-pong game years earlier with the Holladayos, but that is also, a secret.

Ruby was clever, curious, a force. Gentle, caring, a listener.

She is loved, remembered and admired by her 3 children, Laury Hammel (Robin Young), Carolee Hammel (Tom Barber) and Brad Hammel, her 10 grandchildren (Sara, Jed, Eliza, Jason, Sam, Rosie, Vanessa, Brent, Catharine, Bobbie, and Rosanna) and her 13 great grandchildren (Julian, Daniel, Anthony, Tati, Zarina, Tayzia, James, Charlie, Josie, Miles, Matty, Teddy, Lucas).

In Lieu of flowers please consider donating to Holladay United Church of Christ . or the League of Women Voters lwvutah.org/donations, in Ruby Hammel’s name.