Every now and then I find myself typing a word and think 'never typed that one before.' The newest term on my personal keyboard tracker is cremains.
For the uninitiated, cremains are the product of remains meeting cremation. As a term, it's hard to get much more precise. I think my brothers are sick of hearing it, though. But it does sound better than ashes.
Ashes to ashes.
Loretta Ruth Moore was born in the oil fields of Borger, Texas on December 2, 1934. Her dad, Sam, was an equipment operator and laborer from Oklahoma who'd pulled her mother, Nettie, from an Ohio orphanage.
Before World War II, Sam took a job operating cranes on the Panama Canal. Nettie got involved in the USO and soon, all three of her daughters, Shirley, Loretta and Sandy, were feature performers in USO shows. By 12, Loretta had sung songs for thousands of sailors and servicemen either on their way or coming home from war.
Construction work lured Sam to Maryville, Tennessee after the war. He was hired as a dozer operator for Ruth Brothers Construction. Loretta graduated from Everett High School in 1952. She went into St. Mary's Hospital nursing program in Knoxville.
She secretly married John W. Ruth, Jr., Sam's boss's son, during the first year of the program because students had to be single ladies. She wasn't discovered and received her registered nursing pin and a job at St. Mary's Hospital. You did not have to be a single lady to have the job.
For the next 13 years Loretta followed John from job to job--Knoxville, Ashland, Gainesville and finally, Elkhorn City. She had three sons, Steve in Knoxville, Mitch in Ashland, and Johnny in Pikeville.
In Elkhorn City, Loretta worked for the town clinic where she got to know the community quickly. She became a beloved Sunday School teacher at the First Baptist Church where her angelic voice rang in the choir. The Breaks Interstate Park served as her refuge.
When Loretta and John split in 1973, her family implored her to come to Tennessee or north to New York, but her heart was in Elkhorn City. It was where she wanted to raise her sons.
In 1976 while conducting physicals for the UMWA she met women applying for union jobs. In a couple of months, she entered Beth-Elkhorn Mine 26. Soon she was operating a shuttle car. She got involved in mine-safety programs and was a member of the mine competition safety team. She only stopped in 1994 because the mine closed.
She returned to nursing and received a BA in Nursing from Morehead. She retired in her early 70s from PMC after teaching smoking cessation, weight-loss, and employee orientation classes.
Loretta died on January 11, 2026. She was 91.
The outpouring of love for our mother has been a brilliant reminder of the effect one person with a servant's heart can have in the world. She never judged or blamed, she just looked at what needed to be done and did it with a whistle and a smile.
We'll celebrate her life and spread her cremains when springtime comes. If you knew her, I hope you can join us.