Mother Sister: Ruby Dee, with her husband, Ossie Davis (d. 2005) in Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing.”

Don’t get me wrong, I admired and respected Maya Angelou deeply.

Her history, her accomplishments and achievements, everything she did and stood for was cherished and appreciated by all.

There is no comparison or competition, but if I had to say a woman really stole my heart, someone who resonated with me as authentic and deep down soul with flair, style, and sophistication, it was Ruby Dee.

I loved Ruby. I loved her husband, Ossie Davis. I loved them together, I loved them apart.

I know she missed her husband when he left us in 2005, and now she has decided it’s time to rejoin him.

It mattered not what Miss Ruby did or said, she carried herself on and off the stage with grace and dignity that I could only dream about.

If I ever made it my business to grow up, I would want to be her. Since I was a little girl, I wanted to be Ruby Dee.

Take a walk with her one more time through her journey on stage, in films and as a reader, writer, poet, historian, documentarian, and friend.

If I had to pick one of my most fondest memories of Miss Ruby, it would be as Mother Sister in Spike Lee’s movie “Do the Right Thing.”

There was that fiery spirit, larger than life, pretending to snub a man (played by her real-life husband), that she actually cared for in her little piffly off-handed way; and then in the end, she finally stops beating him up for caring about her and accepts his offer of friendship.

She was a natural oppositional and juxtaposed character for her husband, the most prolific Ossie Davis, and it was not hard to tell in that acting, in that scenario, that they had had their real-time off-screen fights.

They were telling us, together, that love conquers even the feistiest of spirits — even the “smart assed frowning get out of my face and leave me alone old man!” Black woman.

For indeed, a man who truly loves her, this woman, will never stop tipping his hat with respect and saying “Good morning Mother Sister” to her regardless. One day she will stop fighting him; and she will most assuredly miss him when he is gone.

Miss Ruby Ann Wallace, “Ruby Dee,” age 91 and eternally in our hearts, we will miss you now that you are gone.

Rest in Power.

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