The Energizer Bunnies and Love

Will and Ruth Wolf have been married for 70 years. He is 95 and she is 90. They are the most indelible people I know. I refer to them as the Energizer Bunnies. Each have struggled through so many health challenges, some you or I might not be able to pass through. Having known them for 25 years, I see the power of love pulling them through each event; they simply do not want to leave the other. Often I believe they never will.

Ruth tells the humorous story of their early married years when she invited her mother for dinner. Will's mother was an excellent cook, says Ruth. So, Ruth cooked a roast with gravy, and saw a beautiful cherry pie at the local bakery. She bought it and heated it up before serving it. After dishing out a delectable slice on her mother's then Will's plate, her mother expressed her joy for the flavor of the pie. Ruth, being a natural trickster, said, "Thank you, I sweated all day making it." Will, who told this writer, "That was my big mistake," said at the time, 'Well, it's not as good as my mother's pies." With that, Ruth plopped each of the slices onto one plate and aimed it across the room, hoping to land it in the sink. The pie slices chose their own course, however, and cherries decorated the window and walls which in those days, Ruth reminds me, were covered with wallpaper; hence forever cherry stains. Ruth then told her dinner guests, and in particular Will, ",Don't ever ask me to bake a pie as long as we're married,," "And I never did" she added.

The best product of their long love story is their daughter Carol. She and her partner Jan and the rest of the family you see here share in the care of both Will and Ruth's medical, emotional, and social needs. Carol has recently enrolled them in the local gym. Ruth says she sometimes is concerned for Will when in the gym because he utilizes the exercise equipment to such vigor. His only problem, she says, it that he's blind.

They are each very beautiful people, personalities and physically. I admire their will to continue walking through life with such fortitude. I admire their family, who show such patience, tenderness, and respect for their elders and modeling this same respect to the young children in the family and their community.

When helping Carol walk her parents from the parking garage into the Aronoff Center fortheir great-grandaughter's My Nose Is Red performance, I noticed how few people in our walking path paid no or little attention to the presence of two incredible people and the fact that they might need to step out of the way to make Will and Ruth's walk safe. I was saddened by the fact that our society shows little respect for our Elders, very important citizens who have much wisdom to share with us to make our paths easier.