Edna Ruby Nowell Harris was born on June 8, 1924 in Sugar Hill, St. Joseph, Barbados, W.I. and was the fourth of six daughters born to Evan Cleveland (Sidney) Nowell and Inez Augusta Devonish Nowell. Ruby attended St. Bernard’s, Clifton Hill and St. Michael’s Girls as a child and young adult. She became a Teaching Assistant at Clifton Hill and after passing her exams, became a teacher at St. Margaret’s and then St. Bernard’s. Ruby arrived in New York on August 28, 1949 and began an incredible journey. She began working in a factory that made womens’ purses. In 1952 she enrolled in the Central School for Practical Nurses on Welfare Island in New York City while at the same time working as a Practical Nurse at Unity Hospital in Brooklyn, New York and James Ewing Hospital in Manhattan. Upon completion of the program she received her license as a LPN, (Licensed Practical Nurse). In 1972 she became a Registered Nurse (RN) after completing the RN program at Harlem Hospital Center School of Nursing in Harlem, New York. In 1975 Ruby graduated from Jersey City State College in Jersey City, New Jersey with a Bachelor’s in Community Health. In 1979, she graduated from Long Island University at Mercy College Graduate School with a Master’s in Health Administration. Ruby spent approximately 40 years working for the hospital system of the City of New York. She was a LPN with Unity Hospital and James Ewing Hospital (now the James Ewing Pavilion/Sloan Kettering Hospital) and Fordham Hospital. As a RN, she worked as the Head Nurse at the Prison Health Nursing at Rikers Island; as the Supervisor of Nursing, Operating Room and C.S. at Sydenham Hospital (Harlem Hospital); as the Supervisor of Nursing, Home Health Care Department, Harlem Hospital Center; and as the Supervisor of Nursing, Harlem Hospital Center, Primary Care Network. She retired in 1989 and moved to Florida with her husband Charlie Harris (deceased). In 1996 she worked as a RN on a part-time basis at Flagler Pines Nursing Home in Palm Coast, Florida and retired from there in 2004. In addition to working, going to school and managing a family, Ruby made it a point to travel; and travel she did! After becoming affiliated with Jersey City State College she travelled to France, the United Kingdom, Scotland, Egypt, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Israel, Brazil, Italy, Morocco, Alaska, and the Panama Canal. She also flew The Concorde to Barbados in 2000. Ruby is preceded in death by her husband, Charlie; her son, Sidney M. Nowell, and sisters Kathleen Lauriers, Matilda Barker (aka Syd), Hilda Mitchell (aka Sis), Doris Kirven and Beryl Quinn (aka Ettie). She is survived by her daughter, Coral (aka Bernie); (her one and Only) grandson, Jason; daughter-in-law Sharon Piety-Nowell, several nephews, nieces; and close friends in the US, Caribbean, Canada, and the UK.