Community icon will be missed

On Saturday I heard the news that Ruth Boutilier died on March 22. I did not sleep thinking about it. Ruth has been an icon in the Sydney area for many years now and to know that she will not be teaching yoga, teaching downhill skiing and all the community things she always did makes me sad.

For some reason there are some people you think will always be there and she was one of them for me. I can’t even say I knew her that well, but through yoga you meet many people at different workshops and conferences and that is how I first came in contact with Ruth.

She was attending the same conference as me in Halifax. She was up on the stage sharing her story how she got into yoga so many years ago. It was 40 years at that time, but that has been some 10 years ago or more so now we can safely say that she had been involved in yoga for half a century.

At 82 she was the first and the oldest yoga teacher in Cape Breton so many students have attended her classes over the years so that she knew many, many people. Then there are the children she taught downhill skiing in Ben Eoin. She once said she taught there so long that she has taught the children of the first children she taught.

The Ruth that I knew appeared to take good care of herself and of others at the same time. The Ruth that I knew appeared to live life to the fullest and always had something positive to say.

The Ruth that everyone knew will be missed for sure.