Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090053
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
THE pink T-shirts sum it up - "Twins - twice as nice.''
Each shirt, created by Caroline Wilson, features two "old-fashioned girls" - Ruth with the blue eyes and Ruby with the brown eyes. Ruth Thomas Hodges and Ruby Thomas Jobe, donned the shirts as they marked their 80th birthday with about 50 people at the home of Ruth's daughter Sandra Evans.
The guests of honor, in the custom-made shirts and white slacks, giggled like schoolgirls as they posed for a photographer.
Ruth and Ruby are not identical, so it's easy to distinguish them.
"We look more alike now that we both have white hair than we did when we were younger," Ruth said. "But, mother dressed us alike until we were 13 or 14. My hair was a light brown and Ruby's was black. I have blue eyes, like mother, and she has brown eyes, like father."
" Looks aside, though, Ruby and she "liked the same things and seemed to know what the other one is thinking. Even today, I'll go out and buy a dress, and Ruby will go buy the identical dress except maybe for the color."
Elaine Lavinder, one of Ruth's daughters, said her mom and aunt often finish each other's sentences.
Ruby and Ruth said they don't recall any other twins during their school days in Salem. But Ruth does remembers working together on science homework. Because Ruby could draw better, she did the drawings and Ruth did the written work.
Delivered at home by a Dr. Darden, the twins were numbers four and five in a family of 11 children; seven of their siblings are still living. They say they received no special attention.
Their father worked hard as a barber and at the Salem Tannery to provide for his large brood, and the children all helped their mother with housework and in the care of the younger siblings.
Both agree that Ruth, older by several minutes, was the dominant one - looking out for her younger twin, protecting her and planning their activities.
"Mama said I would watch, and if Ruby picked up a pin or anything else that was dangerous, I would take it away from her and bring it to Mama," Ruth recalled. "And, when one of the boys picked on Ruby, she would run to me and say, 'Guard post!' and then I would sock him."
Ruth still appears to be more active and Ruby more passive. Family members call Ruth the "cleaner upper," and Ruby the "world's best cook."
Every Wednesday the twins get together with their sisters, Lura Vest and Charlotte Lictenstein, and sister-in-law Virginia Thomas to eat lunch and play canasta or rook. Every day they are in touch by telephone. Two other sisters - Jean Moore and Opal Thomas - live out of town.
Ruth seemed to thrive on the excitement of the birthday party, while Ruby shied away from the camera, saying, "I hate to be the center of attention!"
Their brother, Wayne Thomas, who owns a Salem jewelry store, designed special necklaces - gold pendants with twin pale green peridots - for his sisters' Aug. 3 birthday. Vest made her fudge, which usually is reserved for Christmas.
Ruth likes to travel, recently visiting California and her daughter in Japan.
Ruby seems to be more of a homebody, content to enjoy vicariously the adventures of her sister, who went water-skiing with her grandchildren last summer.
"When Ruby and I were growing up, there was nothing to do except ride our bicycles and roller skate," Ruth recalled.
In 1933, during their junior year at Andrew Lewis High School, Ruby fell in love and quit school at age 17 to marry Clarence Jobe, whose father started Jobe's Florist.
"Oh, how I missed her!" Ruth said, recalling those years. "We had always shared a room and spent so much time together. But I visited them and called her every day - still do!"
Ruth continued school, graduating with the class of 1934. She and her classmates still meet monthly, and many were present for the birthday celebration.
After graduation, Ruth went to work at Newberry's, a Salem department store.
"My little sister, Jean, was in the first grade, and each morning I would skip to school with her, then go on to my job. When her teacher changed her to the afternoon class, Jean was in tears because we couldn't skip to school any more. Mama talked to the teacher, and Jean was put back in the morning class, and everything was back to normal."
Ruth worked at Newberry's until her marriage at age 23 to Tennie "John" Hodges, who ran a service station on Franklin Road. Once her two daughters were in school, she went to work at J.C. Penney's store at Towers Mall. When the store moved to Tanglewood Mall, she went with it as a supervisor. Company policy forced her to retire at age 70.
"A week later the policy changed and you didn't have to retire at 70." she said. Widowed since 1972, Ruth now works one or two days a week at her brother's jewelry store.
She also meets monthly with the "Penney girls," retirees with whom she worked.
Ruby and Clarence Jobe celebrated 62 years of marriage in June. Although they had no children, Ruth's two girls and five grandchildren are always available "on loan."
Both Ruby and her husband worked at Jobe's Florist from the time of their marriage, eventually owning it. They sold the business in 1984, but continued to work for the new owners. Ruby retired in 1986, then suffered a bout of cancer.
"I felt it was so unfair," she said. "But I was determined not to let it get the better of me. I fought it, and now have no sign of it. Since then I've been trying to live it up - just do what I want to do when I want to do it."
Memo: NOTE: Also ran in August 10, 1995 Neighbors