Obituary: Ruth R. Kurtz

Ruth R. Kurtz of Kennesaw, Ga., died on April 18, 2021. She was 95.

Ruth was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Jan. 25, 1926 to Lillian and Jacob Levy. She married Ray in 1946, and she and Ray immediately started their family. Her five children range in age from 59 to 73. After growing up in New York City and marrying Ray, she and her family moved from New York City to Atlanta in 1956. Shortly after moving to Atlanta, she became actively involved in the Jewish War Veterans Ladies Auxiliary, a charitable organization. She worked as an executive secretary for the branch chief of family planning at the Centers for Disease Control, a job from which she later retired.

As a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she tirelessly gave her love and cheerful persona to all of her family and friends. While she will best be remembered for her loving character, she will also be remembered as a character. She had a sense of humor Joan Rivers would envy and exhibited it until the very day of her death. Her greatest joy in life was her family. The matriarch of the Kurtz family will be deeply missed.

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Ruth was preceded in death by her loving husband Raymond D. Kurtz, to whom she had been married for 65 years. She is survived by two daughters Diane K. Allgood, of Canton, Ga., and Carolyn A. Kurtz of Milton, Ga.; and three sons Stuart A. Kurtz (Marcia) of Marietta, Ga., Jack S. Kurtz (Wendy) of Statham, Ga., and Paul D. Kurtz (Ellen) of Seneca, S.C. She is also survived by 13 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Graveside services were held April 23, 2021, at Arlington Memorial Park with Rabbi Steven Lebow officiating. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, 770-451-4999.