Eleanor L. Ruley

Eleanor Ruley was born April 9, 1922 in New Haven Conn. She grew up in Washington, DC and graduated in 1938 at the age of 16 from Notre Dame. She began to work for the National Catholic Welfare Conference after high school. At 19 she began to work for the State Department and went to Algeria with the State Department because the provisional government was there since France was under Nazi control. When the war ended Eleanor went back to France and joined the USO. She worked in Rome with the USO, she was organizing Papal Audiences for the service men to see Pope Pius the XII. Then she went to South Korea with the USO, after the Korean War ended - she and the director of the USO were responsible for entertaining 100 troops weekly while they waited for ships to return them to the United States. They entertained them by playing cards with the troops arranging scavenger hunt , etc. She then returned home to take care of her Mother who was terminally ill. After her Mother passed away she married retired US Army Corporal Paul Ruley who had two sons who Eleanor helped raise. She lived in Hawaii for approximately 40 years. She lost her husband in 1991 and in 2001 she decided to return to the Washington, DC area to be with her sisters and relatives.