Ruth Louise Kaplan passed away at Del Mar Gardens in Overland Park, Kansas, on April 3 at the age of almost 101 years.
Ruth was preceded in death by her first husband, Irving Bloom, who served in the Armed Forces as a bombardier during World War II, and her second husband, Norman Kaplan, also a member of the Armed Services during the war.
She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and moved to Kansas City with her parents, Ben and Minnie Apple, and her two brothers, Marvin Apple (the eldest) and Norman Apple (the youngest).
Ruth had three children from her first marriage, Rhonda Goff, Robert Bloom (Janet) and Lezlie Ellard; and a son with her second husband, Jerold Kaplan (Robin). Her grandchildren are Elissa (Tim) and Carly Robins (Joseph), Erin Bloom, Barbara Mead (Doug) and Stacy Foxworthy (Ryan Lashley), Jacqueline Ellard (Ian Blackstone), Michael Kaplan (Lara Lackstein) and Samantha Kaplan; and her great-grandchildren are Madeline and Coco, Alex and Lauren, Nathan and Lexie, Lotte, Harper and Lily. She was more than happy to brag about all of them to any and everyone she met.
Educated at Washington University, Ruthie was a woman of many talents; she painted and sculpted, could play any song on the piano by ear (all you had to do was hum a few notes of the tune you wanted to hear, and she’d play it like she was reading the sheet music) and was often the one who came up with the hardest answers when someone was struggling with a trivia question — no doubt due to her heavy appetite for reading. She would talk to everyone and never met anyone who wasn’t instantly her best friend.
She was buried at a private family service on April 6 at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.
If you knew Ruthie and are so inclined, the family asks for donations to be sent in her name to Jewish Family Services (jfskc.org). Online condolences for the family may be left at louismemorialchapel.com.