A life to remember: Mrs. Ruby Bullard leaves behind recipe for full, successful life

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Published on Friday, 01 June 2012 14:03

Mary Loveland
Daily Elk Citian 

Before Ruby Bullard's funeral September 23, 2011, family and friends mixed up a large batch of Bullard's famous chocolate chip cookie dough. During the funeral, a few women stepped out of the sanctuary and into the kitchen of the First Baptist Church in Elk City to put lumps of the dough into the oven. And just as the service concluded, they pulled out baking sheets of the warm, familiar cookies just in time for the smell to fill up the parlor where everyone met to enjoy Bullard's hot cookies and a cold glass of milk with her for the last time.

Miss Ruby, born on December 17, 1917, was a math teacher nearly her entire life. She and her husband, Hubert, taught all over Oklahoma before landing in Elk City for good in 1965. Here, she taught at the Junior High and at the High School earning an Elk City Teacher of the Year award before retiring in 1979.

After retirement, Miss Ruby continued to teach through tutoring. Even after Ruby moved out to Elkwood, she continued to tutor some of the nurses aids there.

"She was kind of a legend in that tutoring thing," Souza said. "She taught me to always learn something. To take up something new or learn something new everyday."

A good family friend, Cheryl Firth, recalls a lot of wonderful memories of Ruby from her childhood all the way up to being her neighbor across the street.

"My youngest son, Sam, was born a year after we moved here," Firth said. "When all the big kids would go to school, Sam would get up in the morning and he wanted to go play with Ruby. He would stand at the front door and wait to see Miss Ruby come out of her house."

For Mrs. Ruby Bullard's full story and her famous chocolate chip cookie recipe, pick up the Friday, June 1, edition of the Daily Elk Citian.