Ruby Ann (Wallace) Dee (1922 - 2014)

Born 27 Oct 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Frank Dee Brown — married 31 Aug 1941 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Wife of Raiford Chatman Davis — married 1948 in New Jersey

Died 11 Jun 2014 at age 91 in New Rochelle, Westchester, New York, United States

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Biography

Ruby (Wallace) Dee is Notable.

Ruby (Wallace) Dee was awarded the Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African American.

Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist.

Ruby Wallace, daughter of Edward Wallace and Gladys Hightower, was born in 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio.^[1] The family moved to Harlem, New York City by 1930 where she grew up.

Ruby married blues singer Frankie Dee Brown in 1941 in Manhattan, New York City, New York,^[1] and began using his middle name as her stage name. The couple divorced in 1945, which was also the year that she graduated from Hunter College.^[2][3]Three years later in 1948 she married actor Ossie Davis in New Jersey,^[4] whom she met while costarring in Robert Ardrey's 1946 Broadway play Jeb. According to the Washington Post, their marriage "was widely regarded as one of Hollywood's most enduring and romantic, lasting 56 years, until his death in 2005."^[3]

Ossie and Ruby were together awarded in 1995 the National Medal of Arts which is the highest honor given to artists and art patrons by the United States government.

Ruby and Ossie had three children together. The children have created a web site to keep their parents legacy alive by sharing pictures and moments that they spent with their parents.

Ruby died in 2014 at her home in New Rochelle, New York at age 91.^[3] Ruby was cremated, and her ashes are held in the same urn as that of her husband, with the inscription "In this thing together". The urn is interred in Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, New York.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Ancestry Record 61788 #90311979 New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Marriage Licenses
2. ↑ "The New York Age", New York, NY 13 Sep 1941, Sat, p. 4, "Ruby Ann Wallace is Bride of Frankie Dee" Free View of Article
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} "Ruby Dee, actress and civil rights activist, Washington Post, Washington, DC, 12 Jun 2014, by Sarah Halzack [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/celebrities/ruby-dee-actress-and-civil-rights-activist-dies-at-89/2014/06/12/d4c3e4d2-f250-11e3-9ebc-2ee6f81ed217_story.html Link to Article-subscription req'd]
4. ↑ "New Jersey, U.S., Marriage Index, 1901-2016"
   New Jersey State Archives; Trenton, New Jersey
   Ancestry Sharing Link Ancestry Record 61253 #901329774 (accessed 8 October 2021)
   Ruby Wallace marriage to Ossie Davis in 1948 in New Jersey, USA.
5. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVG5-24VC : 10 September 2021), Ruby Dee, ; Burial, Hartsdale, Westchester, New York, United States of America, Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum; citing record ID 131277377, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4LZ-H44 : accessed 8 October 2021), Ruby Wallace in household of Edward Wallace, Manhattan (Districts 0751-1000), New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 984, sheet 22A, line 5, family 122, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1576; FHL microfilm 2,341,311.
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQTP-PBL : 28 July 2019), Ruby Wallace in household of Emma Wallace, Assembly District 22, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-1904, sheet 16A, line 5, family 283, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2670.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Dee

• Wikidata: Item Q234360, en:Wikipedia