The Cupertino Courier
Community
Obituaries
Longtime teacher Ruth Spivey loved to travel, cheer on grandkids
Ruth Marie Heinzmann Spivey was young at heart and earned her granddaughter's characterization as being "very with it."
"She had a Gameboy before any of the grandkids did," says her daughter Sara Spivey.
Ruth Spivey died at home on March 11. She was 86.
She was born in Shattuc, Ill., on Dec. 27, 1919, and was married for 51 years to Robert Everett Spivey, who died in 1998.
She moved to Cupertino in 1966 and taught first and second grade for many years in the Cupertino Union School District.
After retiring, she did some tutoring, focusing mainly on reading comprehension and language arts.
Her love of books and reading was an important part of her teaching, Sara Spivey says. A group of retired teachers formed a book club in which she was very active. She loved to travel to places around the United States, including Phoenix and Tucson, and frequently returned to the Midwest to visit relatives. She also traveled to Asia and Europe with her daughters.
She was very involved in her grandchildren's activities and was a frequent spectator at soccer and basketball games and school plays.
"She loved all of her grandkids. She said they kept her young," Sara Spivey says.
Her youthfulness was apparent even in her voice.
"People used to get her, my sister and even my oldest niece and I confused on the phone. We all sounded alike," Sara Spivey says.
Spivey kept up on current events and fashion, and she enjoyed trivia or mind-bending television shows such as Jeopardy. She played the piano and loved jazz, but also enjoyed classical and pop styles.
Spivey is survived by her daughters, Ann E. Heinrich and her husband Jon of Nevada City, and Sara E. Spivey and husband Michael Schenk of Menlo Park; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Helen Heinzmann Conn of Albuquerque, N.M., and many nieces and nephews.
Donations can be made in her name to the Cupertino Library Foundation.
