Funeral Mass
Date
Thursday, May 20th, 2021
Rosary
8:30am
Mass of Resurrection
9:15am
Location
St. Bridget
Chinese Catholic Church
510 Cottage Home Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Watch the service in Youtube here:
In Loving Memory of
Ruby Ling Louie, Ph.D.
雷林娥柳博士
(April 11, 1931 – May 4, 2021)
Born in Chicago’s Chinatown, Ruby was the youngest of 4 children of a Chinese merchant and a mother from central Chekiang Province, China. In the 1930’s her entrepreneurial father participated in multiple World’s Fairs and finally settled the family in Los Angeles, where they opened several curio shops in “China City” just west of the current Chinatown area. They lived among other “honest immigrant’ families of Italian, Russian, Mexican, Japanese and Chinese ancestry; Ruby was always proud to be part of these families working hard to better their lives. In 1942, her father opened a Chinese restaurant in Long Beach where the four children worked after school.
Ruby graduated from Belmont High School in 1948, then went on to Long Beach City College and UCLA where a summer course gave Ruby the direction for her life’s work: she became a librarian for children. She went on to Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh for her Master’s degree, to public and school libraries in Connecticut, NY, LA County, and Long Beach and in 1976 she earned her PhD in Library Science from University of Southern California.
Ruby’s doctoral dissertation demonstrated the need for library services in LA Chinatown. As Founding President of the Friends of the Chinatown Library, Ruby led the efforts to establish the first branch of the LA Public Library to offer full bilingual services to Chinese Americans. Ruby stayed active with the Friends group for approximately 40 years, and there is an endowment in her honor “The Ruby Ling Louie Endowment for Americans of Chinese Descent.” She was involved in many community boards dedicated to literacy and to her Chinatown community.
In 1961, Ruby married her Belmont and UCLA classmate Hoover Louie, who had become Catholic as a teenager through the mission outreach efforts of St. Bridget’s Chinese Catholic Center (now Church). They settled in Chinatown where Hoover had grown up, and raised their two children as Catholics at St. Bridget’s, with Ruby very involved with Hoover and the church, despite not being Catholic herself. In the early 1980’s, Ruby and her sister Mee Lee went through RCIA and became Catholics – a very happy day for all. Sharing her passion for reading and communication, she remained an active lector and coached a number of new readers to proclaim the Word! She and Hoover have been passionate supporters of St Bridget’s.
Ruby is survived by her husband of 60 years, Hoover, her two children Leigh-Ellen and John, their spouses, Rob and Aileen, and John and Aileen’s three children Joseph, Janet and James. Her memorial service will be held Thursday, May 20 at St. Bridget’s with an optional rosary at 8:30am, and a mass at 9:15am. Seating will be limited to 80 people outdoors, with standing room for additional people. The family invites you, in lieu of flowers, to make a donation to the Chinese Catholic Association of Los Angeles (CCALA) with the note “Building Fund – in memoriam of Ruby Louie.” Donations can be made online at www.ccala-ca.org or by check to CCALA, 445 Cottage Home Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please kindly inform us via email at aileen.a.louie@gmail.com of your online gifts so that we help ensure the appropriate acknowledgement can be provided.
St Bridget Chinese Catholic Church 