Ruthanne Maynard

On October 23, 2017, RuthAnne Maynard passed away.  She was the daughter of the late James Collier and Irene Irish Collier; beloved wife of Jeffrey Maynard; devoted sister of the late Mary Bucco and her late husband James; loving aunt of Elizabeth Bucco, Edwin Sauter, Jeremy Sauter, and Andrew George; dear niece of Aline Irish and her late husband Charles; and also survived by 6 loving cousins.

RuthAnne was an inspiration to everyone who knew her.  For the last 10 years, she bravely battled breast cancer with almost non-stop chemo therapy, and occasional radiation therapy, never complaining about the pain, nausea, hair loss, and other side effects that go with those treatments.

Very few individuals could survive 10 years of chemo and stage 4 cancer.  Her love of playing volleyball over approximately the last 25 years made her body physically strong enough to endure the treatments for such a long time.  Her mental toughness would not let her give in to the emotional weight of the cancer or the treatments.

She never let the cancer or the treatments interfere with her life.  She forced herself to get out of bed, take a shower, and get dressed up in perfectly coordinated and cheerful attire even on her worst days.

She continued playing in 2 or 3 different volleyball leagues each week, depending upon the time of year, in addition to playing weekend tournaments with her USA Volleyball team in the fall and spring.  Her last volleyball match was the day before she received her last chemo treatment.

The chemo made her bones somewhat brittle.  As a result, she suffered rib fractures on both sides of her body just by doing things like coughing.  The coughing became somewhat chronic as the disease began irritating her lungs.  She carried these fractures around for the last few years because they would not heal.  So, she wore a padded football jersey to distribute any impact to her chest and continued to play volleyball even to the point of diving on the ground to play a ball.  Her strength, perseverance, positive attitude, and leadership on the court earned her the unwavering respect of her teammates.

Volleyball was not her only passion.  She sewed, knitted, cross-stitched, made draperies and window treatments, and also made countless beautiful quilts.  As a younger woman, she worked at a now-defunct fabric store chain.  She and a group of women who also worked there remained good friends and have gathered regularly for more than 25 years to celebrate life, certain holidays, and special events.

She loved to sew.  She made some of her own clothes and was always willing to alter some garment for a friend.  She never minded losing her hair with some of her chemo treatments but recognized that many women were not as comfortable with it.  So, she would make dozens of hats in many different styles using a variety of fabrics, and we would give them to the nurses when she went into the hospital for her chemo treatment.  The nurses in the infusion center handed them out to anyone who was losing their hair and wanted one.  She did this on numerous occasions over the years regardless of how she was feeling.

She made custom window treatments and draperies as a business for many years until being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer over 10 years ago.  She decided to discontinue her business in order to focus on maintaining the effort needed to fight the disease.  However, she still occasionally offered to make draperies for friends.

She and her quilting "buddy" met weekly to plan and work on their quilting creations.  There are many examples of her quilting prowess in our home.  But, she made most of the quilts as gifts for others to keep as remembrances of special occasions.  Births, weddings, special anniversaries and birthdays are just some of the events that warranted one of RuthAnne's work-of-art quilts.

She lived every moment of her life the way she wanted to live it.  As a friend, she was fierce.  As an adversary, she was relentless. As a person, she was smart, kind, compassionate, generous, loyal, selfless, and loving.  In short, RuthAnne was a beautiful person who brought joy to others.  Her spirit will live on in the memories of those who knew her.   But, the world will forever be a little darker without the light that emanated from her radiant blue eyes.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Donations:

In lieu of, or in addition to, flowers, gifts in memory of RuthAnne Maynard may be directed to support Breast Cancer Research at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center. Please make checks payable to: UMMS Foundation. Gifts may be mailed with a memo indicating that this gift is in memory of RuthAnne Maynard to the UMMS Foundation, 110 South Paca Street, 9th floor, Baltimore, MD 21201 or gifts can be made online at www.ummsfoundation.org/give

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Luncheon:

There will be a luncheon to follow services at the Maynard's Home.  Many have expressed an interest in bringing a dish, please send Connie Baker an email if you would like to bring a food item.  Let her know what you would like to bring, or if you are not sure, ask her to suggest a category (e.g. appetizer, entree, dessert).  She will be trying to achieve a balance.  Her email address is cbhennings1@gmail.com.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Accommodations:

For anyone who may be coming from out of town and plan to stay in the area overnight, there is a block of 15 rooms on reserve at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Linthicum near BWI airport.  The hotel is about 5 miles from the funeral home. You can call Lacie, Christy, or the front desk to make a reservation. Contact information is provided below.  Just ask for the "Maynard" block of rooms. Lacie said that the rate of $99/night is good until Tuesday (Oct 31) for making the reservation.  However, if you make it after Tuesday you just need to call her and she will approve the rate.

For those who are flying into BWI, there is a shuttle to and from airport.

Contact Information:

Lacie Keesee :   410-694-0119 X7007        lacie.keesee@towneplacesuitesbwi.com

Christy :                410-694-0119 X7005        christy.parris@towneplacesuitesbwi.com

Front desk:         410-694-0119