Barbara Banks

Irene - who was never called Ruth, as that was her mother's name - was a tall, funny but shy young girl. She was an only child who longed to have a big brother. As an army brat, she moved constantly and had trouble making friends. She was born in a naval hospital after her pregnant mother barely made it to shore, having sailed from the Philippines where her husband was a Marine lawyer. In her first few years, Irene lived in SC, GA, Washington DC, Omaha NE, Hawaii, China and the Philippines. She and her mother were evacuated from the PI just before the Japanese invaded, and they went to live with her mother's parents in Yonkers NY, where she lived from age 11 until after she graduated college (she was a day student at College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx.

My grandfather "Bud" was the youngest of 10 children, born a twin, His twin sister, Zenobia Irene, died at age 2. He was born in Colorado, attended West Point USMC Academy and George Washington Law School. He married Ruth Elizabeth Schumacher in 1926. Their only child was my mother, Ruth Irene Marron Stearns. Bud was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese at the outset of WWII. He died aboard the Oryku Maru "Hell Ship" which was bombed by the USAF while transporting prisoners.

My grandmother's only sibling, her younger brother Herbert, was a fire inspector for the city of Columbus OH. He was married to Carolyn. He died in the 1950s. He had no children.

My grandmother Ruth was a vibrant, social and stimulating woman. She had only one child, my mother, in 1927, with her first husband, Lt. Col. Cyril Q. Marron, who died in WWII. Her 2nd marriage to Frank Singer Sr was in 1949.

Ruth Elizabeth Schumacher was born on February 12, 1903. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Ruth Elizabeth Schumacher .

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Charles Baker Schumacher.