Redlands Police honor memory of longtime CVP Ruth Ledbetter

One would think Ruth Ledbetter had done more than her share of service to her community.

A U.S. Army nurse during World War II and the years that followed, Ruth later raised six children while moving from base to base with her Army chaplain husband, Carl, before returning to nursing in the Inland Empire.

But at the age of 71, when most people would be considering retirement, Ruth sought out a new challenge and another way to serve her community, joining the Redlands Citizen Volunteer Patrol.

She served faithfully as a CVP for a dozen years, building up a list of honors and awards, helping to train other CVPs and providing a valuable service to the Redlands Police Department and the people of Redlands before retiring in 2004 at the age of 83.

Ruth Slocum Ledbetter died of cancer Tuesday, Oct. 3, in Boise, Idaho.

Born Ruth Weymouth, Dec. 15, 1920, in Rockland, Maine, Ruth spent her early years as a tomboy in rural Maine, skiing to school in the winter on skis her father made from barrel staves and hiking in the countryside to try to escape her chores during the summer.

After graduating from Alfred High School in Alfred, Maine, Ruth attended the Maine General Hospital School of Nursing in Portland.

In 1942, Ruth joined the United States Army Nursing Corp and was shipped out to the South Asian Theater. During the trip around the horn of Africa to the Indian Ocean, the ship she was aboard was on general quarters for more than 72 hours while being pursued by German submarines.

Ruth spent the remainder of the war in Army hospitals in India and Burma. Following the war, she traveled to Egypt, Newfoundland and on to New Jersey for discharge from the Army.

After a brief time working at a civilian hospital in Portland, Maine, Ruth returned to the Army Nursing Corp. She was stationed aboard several troop ships, traveling to Okinawa, Japan, France, Germany and Italy, as well as other countries, providing care to troops and their families as the Army demobilized and reorganized for new assignments following World War II.

It was on one of these ships, the MV Huddleston, that Ruth met Major Carl Ledbetter, a U.S. Army Chaplain in 1948. After a shipboard romance, they married in Japan and Ruth became stepmother to a young daughter, Carla Sue. Because of Army regulations regarding married female service members, Ruth was honorably discharged from the Army as a captain in 1948.

Five more children followed, three boys – Carl Jr., Charles and Craig - and two girls – Candace and Christa. The family lived at Army bases in Germany, Kansas and Georgia, among others before Carl retired from the Army in 1961. The family moved to Redlands in 1962.

In 1978, while her youngest child was in high school, Ruth returned to nursing as an alcohol and drug rehabilitation counselor at the California Department of Corrections in Norco and the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center, in Loma Linda, where she worked until 1983.

In 1992, Ruth joined the Citizen Volunteer Patrol, performing patrol and special detail duties and using her nursing skills and experience to train other CVPs, police personnel and community members.

In 1994, she was named CVP of the Year and was given the Meritorious Service Medal in 1998. Other awards and honors included the 1999 Community Policing and Problem Solving Award; a commendation for Outstanding Service to the Banning Police Department and a letter of commendation from the California Highway Patrol in 2000; and the 2001 Public Safety Appreciation Award for Volunteer of the Year from American Legion Post 650 in Redlands.

In a tribute in 2002, fellow CVP Jim Deegan called Ruth “a mainstay of the CVP” who “possesses much of the institutional knowledge acquired since the CVP was first formed in Redlands.” Deegan noted that Ruth regularly shared her knowledge with the newer CVPs.

In her spare time she enjoyed playing tennis, ocean kayaking (which she started at age 70), rock climbing (started at age 71) and dancing.

Carl Ledbetter died in 1995 and Ruth continued her volunteer duties with the Redlands Police Department until April 2004, contributing a total of 12,030 hours to the department. That time is equivalent to six years of full-time employment, 3,000 four-hour patrols and a $733,830 contribution to the department and the community.

In 2006, Ruth moved to Boise to be near her youngest daughter.

Ruth is survived by her six children; Carla Sue Holte, of Taylors, S.C.; Carl Ledbetter Jr., of Denver, CO; Charles Ledbetter, of San Diego; Craig Ledbetter, of Redlands; Candace Heidelberger, of Nevada City; and Christa Ledbetter, of Boise, ID; 21 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Services were private. In lieu of donations, Ruth requested donations be made in her name to the Redlands Humane Society, where she adopted her dog, Scruffy, a beloved companion until her death.