KILLER, Ruby Madge

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ Wednesday, May 11, 2011 Ruby Madge Killer, 94, of Wickenburg, passed peacefully May 5 in Surprise, Ariz., enjoying visits from her family and in the care of hospice. Just short of her 95th birthday, she was born June 3, 1916, in Cordell, Okla., to Amanda Lou (Murdock) and Samuel Aaron Cain, who raised 15 children on their family farm. She married Don John Killer on Dec. 5, 1941 and had two sons, Tommy Don (Bobbi) and Joe Dan (Debi), while living in Oklahoma. The family moved to Arizona in 1962 to work at the mine at the Grand Canyon, migrating to Phoenix in 1967 before retiring to Wickenburg in 1981, where their eldest son owns the Rancho Bar 7 and their youngest son owns JDK Drywall & Insulation Systems. She is preceded in death by her husband Don in 1982 and she will be laid to rest next to him at Wickenburg Cemetery. Ruby enjoyed many years of walking the cemetery hill with her friends Squirrely Herndon, Babe Rubash and her son’s big black lab Underfoot, from her Oxbow Drive residence. Family was very important to Ruby, and she fulfilled many roles for nieces and nephews, assuming that responsibility as the last surviving sibling of the Cain family. Extending holidays and family time to include not only her sons but the children and grandchildren of her family members who moved west - niece Karen (Wayne) Young of Laveen; her sister the late Aline (Frank) Anderson of Henderson, Nev.; and niece Betty Roe (Wendell) Allen, of Wickenburg. Ruby assumed the role of “Grandma Ruby” to many of her family and friends’ children. She was preceded in death by her grandson Jimmy Killer and great-niece Terry Beth Young. She is survived by grandchildren Sarah and Chase Killer of Wickenburg and many generations of nieces and nephews. Enjoying almost three years of living at My Father’s Retirement Ranch, she cherished visits with her boys and extended family before moving in February to Surprise under hospice care. Services were conducted by David’s Desert Chapel on Tuesday (May 10). The family requests any memorials be made in care of Hospice of the Valley. Arrangements are by David’s Desert Chapel.