Lucille Rueth
About Lucille:
Hammond resident with eight children, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Graduate of Bishop Noll Institute class of 1941.
Graduate of St. Mary Hospital School of Nursing, 1944.
Accomplishments: Lucille Rueth helps provide a loving and caring beginning to children at The Nazareth Home in East Chicago. She became a volunteer at the facility, dedicated to meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of medically compromised infants and children who are faced with extraordinary challenges, shortly after it opened in 1993. "When I heard they were going to open, I said that I can do that and I stuck with it." Rueth volunteered every Thursday from 7 a.m.to 1:30 p.m. before she took a leave to care for her husband, Harold, who passed away in August; she hopes to return soon. At the home, Rueth does everything a mother would do with a baby. "I help to develop their minds and their personalities and let them feel loved and cared for. All that is very important to children," she said. "I think The Nazareth Home is a wonderful thing for the babies. It's a haven for them. They get everything they need." A member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Hammond,
Rueth serves as a Eucharistic minister and when able, ministers at St. Catherine Hospital every other Wednesday.
What is most rewarding about volunteering? "I love the babies. This is my life. This is what the Lord put me here for. I enjoy everything I do for them."
Personal heroes: "God, he's my strength, and as a person, Sister Fidelis, who ran the home, and Sister Barbara, who took over. I admire the nuns. They give their whole life to praising God and doing works of charity."
What I read: "I like to read about children and family problems and what you do about them."
Advice: "Whatever you do for somebody else makes you feel better, too. You feel good that you can help them."
How to get involved: For information on volunteering with The Nazareth Home, visit www.nazarethhome.com or call Sister Barbara at (219) 680-0112.
- SUE BERO, Times Correspondent
To nominate someone for this feature, e-mail slbero@hotmail.com
