Over the summer, the Cabrini College staff lost someone who had been here long enough to be considered part of the very foundation that this campus is built on. Ruth Richardson, one of the librarians in the Holy Spirit Library, passed away after over 20 years of service to the school.
Richardson dedicated her life to the campus working several positions. In the library, Richardson mainly worked with technical services. Richardson also worked with the libraries latest acquisitions, getting the opportunity to see the latest acquired works that would be implemented into the catalogue of books and information found in the library.
Linda Roccas, one of Ruth’s fellow librarians, described her in one word-generous. “[Cabrini and the community] was her life,” Roccas said. Richardson was the head of the Social Committee and one of the most active employees on campus. At one time, Richardson was even a Resident Assistant in the Woodcrest dorm. “I imagine she was a great RA.”
Richardson’s generosity was always given back to the community at the end of the school year when she would volunteer her house for a special get together for Cabrini’s family. She would invite students and librarians to her house, which was only minutes from the campus, for a student and library barbeque. To prepare to make the “Student and Library Staff Picnic” a success and a pleasure for all of her friends and co-workers, Richardson set up the grill, the tables, and even mowed her lawn for guests. Setting up everything for the picnic by herself for the day, Richardson would hand out hamburgers and hot dogs “like a drill sergeant.”
Richardson continued to work for the Holy Spirit Library until her health problems eventually kept her from making it to work. It was in summer when Roccas heard the news.
” I was on vacation and the head of Public Services called me where I was,” Roccas said. Richardson was hospitalized over the fourth of July weekend and her passing came very suddenly.
Friends, family and students who knew Richardson and would like to pay tribute to her are invited to attend her memorial service this Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the St. David’s Golf Club in Wayne. A reception will also be held at the same location from noon until 4 p.m. Anyone else who would like the memory of Richardson to live on is welcome to make a donation to the Ruth Richardson Endowment Scholarship Fund at Cabrini College.
