Ruby's Washer Toss
Founders Tournament

Ruby Somers was born up the river in Newcastle in 1925. At eighteen she left a waitressing job in Saint John to join the Wrens, the women's service of the wartime Navy. A recruitment ad did it: “It showed this little Wren and I thought, Oh, that's what I want to be.” Three of her brothers were already serving, and she will still tell you plainly why she followed them: “I was very patriotic.” The Miramichi Weekend later gave the siblings a full page (“Siblings served together in the navy during WWII”) and it still hangs framed on her wall. Basic training in Galt, Ontario, a posting in Cornwallis, then across U-boat waters to HMCS Avalon in wartime St. John's. She came home to the Miramichi in 1945 and never left it again: seven children, ten raised, twenty houses, one river. She turns the corner on her 102nd year still winning at cards.

For the past seven summers her family's August washer toss day has been the loudest afternoon on the river. This founders tournament is where her name goes public, and next August it carries a 72-team Classic. Play like she's watching. At 101, she has seen better throws than yours and said so.

Played for. Remembered always: Judy · Van · George · Terry · Michaela · Millar, the soldier who stepped off the train in 1946 and took her hand.