Source http://www.courierpostonline.com
By RENEE WINKLER
Courier-Post Staff
Anyone who spotted Ruth Cleary tooling around in her red Chrysler convertible probably thought of her as a blithe spirit.
She always had time to chat with neighbors she met during her 46 years in Haddon Heights or with people in nearby communities visiting the same yard sales as she.
But there was a warmer, more giving side to Cleary, who died recently after an illness that forced her into a Cherry Hill nursing facility for the last year of her life.
By then, her beloved car had been replaced by a wheelchair, said one of her three daughters, Kathy Underwood of Gloucester City.
Cleary spent a lifetime opening her heart — and often her wallet — to strangers who became friends.
Born in Pine Grove, Pa., near Pottsville, she was on her own at 16 after her parents\’ death. She began to work as a waitress, where she met her husband, Jim, a bartender.
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