Beloved ‘Mayor of Acres Homes’, Ruby Mosley remembered for endless service to her community
HOUSTON - Her name may not be as recognizable as Harriet Tubman or Rosa Parks but chances are you’ll recognize her work. This black history month we are honored to highlight Houston’s own Ruby Mosley, the woman affectionately known as "The Mayor of Acres Homes" as loved ones remember her legacy.
What have you done for someone else today? According to her grandchildren, that’s a typical Ruby Mosley question. What did Ms. Ruby do for others? Where should we start?
How about in Acres Homes, the community she loved and fought for?
“She just believed so much in Acres Homes. She was so passionate about her community,” explains her grandson Damian Price, and the feeling was mutual.
Acres Homes loved Miss Ruby right back.
"She has an auditorium named after her. It’s a serious honor,” smiles her granddaughter Tameika Price.
The Ruby Mosley Auditorium at the Acres Homes Multi-Service Center is beautiful indeed. Also, right down the road at HISD's M.C. Williams Middle School, the Parent Center is named for the dedicated community activist.
“I’m super proud of everything she did,” says Carrie Cross, Mosley's oldest daughter, through tears.
Cross says she’s grateful the community her mom served selflessly honored her while she was here and now Miss Ruby has passed on. She was 92 years old.
Miss Ruby retired as a City of Houston Community Service Supervisor in 1995. but she never stopped working particularly for the people of Acres Homes.
"We grew up at all the campaigns, all the polls. We’d be behind the desk. We may be tucked in little cubbies because we were so small but she was going because she was going to fight for what she believed in,” explains granddaughter Laderenia Dixon.
Miss Ruby's grandchildren say right up until Monday, the day she passed, her thoughts were on others and she would often say "I'm trying to make sure my seniors are ok."
“And I’m like but you are a senior, what are you doing? Even at the last minute, she fought. So on her death bed, she taught me endurance. She’s taught us everything in life but how to live without her,” says Dixon.
Mosley considered Mayor Sylvester Turner an adopted son.
“She was a woman small in stature, but big in impact. She was an advocate and servant for the community," he said.
At Miss Ruby's funeral, Mayor Turner declared this Saturday, February 8, “Ruby Mosley Day” in the City of Houston.