Mike SciaccaRuth Rowley concentrated on threading a...

Mike Sciacca

Ruth Rowley concentrated on threading a needle, glancing up on

occasion to deliver a few choice words of wisdom.

As the 92-year-old was busy working on her stitchery in the Surf

City home she shares with her daughter, Shirley Hoff. She sat

surrounded by family photos, some dating back to the late 1800s. One

was of Rowley at age 4 traveling by covered wagon in her native Utah.

Another was of her with the family dog, Wolfie, a 10-year-old

Dachshund, laying at her feet.

Rowley has been enjoying the art of stitchery her entire life and

continues to hone her skills through the Brazilian stitchery class

she takes with her daughter at the ABC Adult School in Cerritos.

“It’s amazing that she still does this at her age,” said Evelyn

DeVries, an embroidery instructor in the school’s home economics

department. “She is the oldest student in that class. She still is

able to learn to stitch new flowers and stitches. She sticks with it,

no matter how difficult. She just doesn’t give up and has a lot of

fun with it.”

DeVries was so taken by Rowley’s determination and love of

stitchery that she nominated her for the school’s Outstanding Adult

Student Learner of the Year award.

Rowley was one of 31 students -- the adult school has an

enrollment of about 16,000 -- nominated and, to her surprise, she won

the award.

She was honored on April 21 at a recognition ceremony at the

school and received a rousing standing ovation when she announced her

name and age to the crowd.

“At 92? Are you kidding me?” she said. “But I feel really proud to

receive this award. I’ve been going to school my entire life and if I

have any words of advice, it would be that you’re never too old to go

to school, to learn something new.”

Also honoring Rowley with certificates of recognition was Rudy

Bermudez, a member of the 56th Assembly District of the California

legislature, 4th District Supervisor Don Knabe, Rep. Loretta Sanchez

and State Sen. Betty Karnette.

When asked what she has learned from DeVries’ Brazilian stitchery

class, Rowley was to the point.

“It didn’t teach me anything I didn’t know, it only reminded me of

what I’ve forgotten,” she mused.

Rowley didn’t give up on stitchery -- or life -- when, in 1953,

doctors told her that her rheumatoid arthritis would cripple her and

make her wheelchair-bound the remainder of her life.

“I just looked the doctor in the eye and told him, ‘you’re

crazy!’” she recalled. “There was plenty more to do in my life.”

As she threaded the needle and continued to work on what was to

become a pin cushion, one could see in a few of Rowley’s fingers the

crookedness that’s a reminder of the prediction that never came to

fruition.

She learned stitching from her mother, Nora, who died when Rowley

was just 6.

“I could do a few stitches of embroidery when I was 4 years old,”

she said. “My mother could do any type of handwork, and I’d just sit

on the floor and copy her. It’s something I’ve loved my whole life

and I know she’d be proud.”

Rowley has taken other classes at the school in needlework,

beading, silk ribbon, embroidery, tailoring, upholstery and ceramics.

Brazilian stitchery gets its name from a rayon thread that came

from the country, and its style is derived from stitching done on the

surface.

Rowley has stitched pin cushions, T-shirts and other articles of

clothing.

“I’ve given everything away, up until now,” she said, motioning to

the pin cushion she was working on. “From now on, everything I stitch

is going to be mine.”

To keep her mind sharp, Rowley plays two games of Yahtzee each

night with her daughter following dinner.

“Mom is a testimony to continued learning, to keeping the mind

fresh and sharp,” Hoff said. “She’s a treasure and a hoot to have

living with me.”

Hoff drives Rowley three times a week to the adult school and said

the two never tire of making the morning drive from Surf City to

Cerritos.

“We have such a good time together in class,” said Rowley, who

also belongs to two begonia clubs. “I’ve been going to school my

whole life and I guess you can say I’ll die in school.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.