Obituary of Ruth Werner

Ruth Werner, a holocaust survivor and later a business woman and mother, died on December 25th at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. She was 84. Mrs. Werner was born in Dlugoshodla, Poland on February 13, 1930 to Kalman and Enya Budyshewitz. Prior to her birth, her father immigrated to the United States via South America in order to set up a new life for his young family and to bring them over shortly thereafter. Those plans were thwarted with the changing political environment in Europe and with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany. World War II and the oppression of the Jews in Europe during the holocaust prevented Ruth and her mother from leaving Europe until just before her 18th birthday. She survived the holocaust alongside her mother and she first met her father as the family reunited when they stepped off the boat in New York Harbor in 1948. As a young immigrant in New York's lower east side, Ruth was living amongst thousands who survived the atrocities of the Nazi regime and who were trying to make better lives for themselves. At night school while taking English speaking classes, she met another young holocaust survivor Irving Zimmerman Werner, who was working as a tailor of fine man's clothing. Mr. Werner immigrated to the United States in 1947 with his two surviving brothers, after the Nazis sent him to a forced labor camp in Siberia, Russia. They married and 3 years later and they moved to Vineland, New Jersey after the birth of their first daughter, Barbara. They purchased a chicken farm. Two more children, Judy and Kenny, made their family complete. Eventually they started a successful woman's clothing business together and they operated stores in Berlin, Pennsauken, and Vineland NJ., until their retirement. Mr. Werner died of Melanoma in 2001. Ruth was an avid reader with a wealth of knowledge of things most could only imagine about, and she was always tuned into world events. As a young woman, she went to business school and received her certification as a junior accountant, but a goal of hers, which she achieved, was to complete her studies and to receive her high school and college diplomas. She related well to all ages and she mixed in with most crowds. Her keen sense of humor and quick sarcastic wit often surprised others and livened up many rather dull conversations. Because so many of the families in Vineland lost a majority of their relatives in the holocaust, she was instrumental in amassing a huge extended family of friends that continues to thrive after three generations with bonds stronger than if they were blood relatives. Ruth Budyshewitz Werner is survived by her three children and their spouses, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She survived the holocaust and forged ahead to a love affair that has lasted for 66 years. That love affair was with her country, with her family and friends and with her husband, who she continued to adore until the day she died.