Ruby Glebe
July 23, 1914 – Feb. 3

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Ruby Davis Glebe (neé Muhlhauser), Lake County historian, passed away Feb. 3, 2019, after a brief illness.

Ruby and her twin brother, Hartley, were born at Hartley Tract near Winters, California.

Everyone in the family – both parents, the twins, and the older brothers, John and Harry – suffered and survived the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

As an adult, Ruby moved to Lake County in 1937, where she married George Davis in 1940. Their son, Richard, was born in July 1944.

In 1945 George was stricken with myelitis, and died three years later. He was 39.

Ruby sold the ranch and bought a house in Finley where she and Richard lived for 11 years. She also bought a 10-acre prune orchard on Gold Dust Drive.

In 1957 Ruby married Herman Glebe of Kelseyville and they moved to the Glebe ranch, where they remodeled the house before building a new home on a hill 5 miles from town in the early 1970s.

Ruby worked for the county in what was then called the “Welfare Department,” and retired in 1978.

With retirement, Ruby and Herman were able to indulge their keen interest in world travel. They visited China, New Zealand (with a stop at the geothermal geysers), Europe (seeing family in Germany), Australia and Alaska,

Ruby chaired a committee of the Lake County Historical Society to secure a grant to restore and preserve the old adobe Lake County Courthouse. Ruby also had a role in moving and restoring the historical Ely Stage structure.

She was appointed to committees by the county Board of Supervisors – one on historical sites, another on geothermal problems, and one assignment was on the museum board. She also served on the board of the “Geothermal for Lake County Association.”

Ruby’s other civic activities include membership in the Trowel and Trellis Garden Club, a 60-plus-year membership in the Clear Lake Grange #680, and the Kelseyville Lioness group. For several years she was a deaconess in the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church.

For decades, Ruby was our Lake County hstorian. She not only had the talent for meticulous research into Lake County history, but she also had a gift for making segments of that history come alive in luncheon talks and presentations.

She served as the Lake County Historical Society president, then president emeritus, and editor of The Pomo Bulletin. Most significantly, of her 104 ½-year lifespan, she lived the recent 81 years in the heart of her beloved Lake County.

Ruby was predeceased by her first husband, George Davis; her second husband, Herman Glebe; her parents and all of her brothers, including her twin brother, who died at age 94; her niece, Cora Taylor, and her son, Richard Davis, who died 10 days before she did.

She is survived by her granddaughter, Dr. Michelle Torrance of Snohomish, Wash.; Michelle’s mother, Uta Davis of Lakeport; and one niece and five nephews.

She will be sadly missed.

Source: Ruby’s niece, Evelyn Gray (daughter of Ruby’s twin brother, Hartley Muhlhauser of Lakeport).

Visitation will be held at Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary on Thursday, Feb. 7, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Funeral service will be held at Kelseyville Presbyterian Church on Friday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m. with interment to follow at Kelseyville Cemetery.

Arrangements by Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary, 707-263-0357 or 707-994-5611, or visit www.chapelofthelakes.com.