About Rebekah...

Rebekah was born on August 31, 1954, it was a Tuesday. The fall, in Pasadena, Texas was hot, as usual, with a high of 98 degrees, and just the day before…100! The top song on the radio was “Sh-Boom” by the Chords, a doo-wop song that would foreshadow a great life (“life would be a dream”). Her mother was Ruby Shead Laird and her dad, Joseph E. Laird. She joined her sister, Deborah, and more than ten years later would welcome another, Melody.

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Virgos are said to be hard-working, creative, reliable, patient, and kind. They are also critical and stubborn over-thinkers. You could probably see some of these traits in Rebekah. She was devoted to her family from the start. They were all lovers and fighters.

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She found love early, in Dan O’Banion, whom she married before she graduated high school. To that marriage, her only son, Clifton was born, in 1976. During this time, she enjoyed hanging out with the other Air Force families and friends, meeting her lifelong friend and Clifton’s Godmother, Tracy Young Wallace, while living at the Kitty Hawk apartments in San Antonio.

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Her second life came in the form of an Engineer and country boy, named James Shults. This marriage, which lasted ten years, was punctuated by boating, fishing, and traveling to coastal locales.

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Finding her true and final love in Steve Ruthstrom was the workings of one of her other life-long friends, Brenda “Down-the-street” Tipton. Both recently or currently <wink> going through a divorce, they found solace in each other from the beginning. Cinco de Mayo, 1995 was one to remember. They were married just one year later in June of 1996. Finding her new self, she and Steve devoted themselves to the volunteer fire department for many years. Following Hurricane Ike in 2008, they were able to build their first home together, in Mar Bella, League City, Texas. This was a place that she loved, and she cherished the time spent in the pool, with family, friends, pets, or just the two of them.

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Her first true love, her Daddy, passed away in 2013, leaving a hole in her heart, but she celebrated him with a sangria, whenever she could stomach it. The rest of her family lives on with her memory; her mom, her sisters, her son, and her stepchildren, Danielle and JR. Additionally, her grandchildren, Jordyn, Erin, Noah, and Emma, will keep her flame burning. Steve will honor Rebekah by completing their dream home in the Texas Hill Country, where her ashes and spirit will remain, now that her soul has moved on to higher ground.