After the birth of four sons, Ruth Flora Disney was born to parents Elias and Flora Disney, just two years after brother Walt was born. Kaye Malins got to know her well after Ruth made a trip back to Marceline, Walt’s hometown. Kaye told us, “We talked frequently and she was just this amazing, gracious lady that was so proud of being a Disney, but so private. Extremely private. Her friends never knew who her brothers were, but she saved every shred of information about her famous brothers. The Disney family was really, really close. They were her financial advisors. They helped her find schooling for her son, Ted. She would correspond with them and their counsel was very important to her.” Kaye learned even more about Ruth after her death, “When I was first asked to come out to her son’s house, Ted Beecher, he and his wife were fulfilling her dream of having all her things come to Marceline (some of which is now on display in the Walt Disney Hometown Museum). Those were her instructions to her son. So I went out and they thought before we would go through all of this Disney family memorabilia, that I should read all of her diaries and I did. I sat for several days and I read and read and read. It’s an amazing story.” Kaye told us one aspect of Ruth’s personality that particularly stands out:
“She was so talented and she was an amazing musician.
She did philanthropic work in Portland, Oregon and no one knew who was doing it. She would hear of somebody who wanted to be a concert pianist and she would help finance their education.”
