Terwilliger Trust Scholarship Fund

Created by Jack and Ruby Terwilliger, to support students who take initiative, have a “make it happen” attitude, and a strong motivation to succeed.

Eligibility Criteria

Location/School: Laytonville High School

GPA Requirement: Weighted 3.0 or higher

Financial Need: No

Requirements: Potential for academic success and involvement in community service

Special Requirements: Completion of GRIT scale

The Story of Jack and Ruby Terwilliger

Now to Jack and Ruby. The Terwilligers were a very unique, imaginative and productive couple. And after they retired, they spent so many years in different Retirement Homes, that they almost spent all of their money. Ruby lived to be 83 and Jack lived to be 90 and they were married for 58 years. In their lives, they accomplished more than most couples, by three to four folds. If you could watch them on a quickie life-long video, you’d think that Jack was the primary force that was responsible for their success, but then later on, you’d tally up and discover that Ruby was a full partner. They both were born into fairly large, but modest families. Jack was born in 1914 in Willits, Ca. and Ruby was born in Albany, Ky., in 1918. They initially met in Pensacola, Florida, while they were both serving in the U.S. Navy, during WWII. The story goes…Ruby Hurt who was 4′ 6″ tall, was swimming in the ocean and got into trouble and Jack, who was 6′ 2″ tall, saved her and they got married shortly thereafter. When the war ended, they both moved to Branscomb, Ca., where they built and operated several sawmills. Before she joined the Navy, Ruby had just graduated from Berea College, in Ky., in accounting, and so she always kept the books.

In the mid 1950’s, in Laytonville, Jack was working on a large circular saw in his mill and something unexpected occurred, electrically, and the saw severed his left arm at the shoulder. He was rushed to Howard Memorial in Willits and Dr. Babcock, a famous doctor, sewed up his shoulder and saved his life, but this had a great effect on their sawmill business. In order to take up the slack, at this time, Ruby got involved with selling Studio Girl Cosmetics, a large, national Company and to everyone’s amazement, little Ruby became the # 1 sales lady in the entire U.S.A., and she not only made a lot of money, she won trips to Paris and other exotic places. Only Ruby could set a record for anything in…Laytonville.

Before and after the accident, Jack always had a lot of interests, which included flying airplanes and he had filed for quite a few claims on jade mines. He had claims in Mendocino, Humbolt and Trinity counties. So, in the late 1950’s, Jack and Ruby decided to move to Fresno and they bought a home there and they got involved in a number of businesses. One thing they did was create their own cosmetic line…”Ja-Ru,” was the name and they took the first two letters from “Jack” and the first two letters from “Ruby,” and that’s how they came up with the name. 

I’ll never forget watching Jack make a batch of cosmetics. He’d do it on the kitchen table and he’d put some of this and some of that in a bowl and then he’d get the electric mixer and mix it all up and believe it or not, he made some of the best cosmetics this way. I think they sold “Ja-Ru” for about ten years. Jack and Ruby also started a Lapidary Arts store, just across the street from their home and they ran this business for over forty years. Fact is, they got involved with so many things that you didn’t know what you’d see the next time you visited. He bought a press, for instance, to print his monthly booklet called the “DopStick,” which went out to all of the Lapidary Arts club members, that he put together. No End. Jack was also a poet, a philosopher and an inventor. See the attached poem, “The Forever Generation.”

For some fifty years, there was a sign that was posted high on the wall behind Jack’s desk in his home Yes, it was Ain’t Noth’n, etc.” The reason this is such a wonderful title for a scholarship, is that if you have dreams to go out and do something you need to know that you shouldn’t sit on your hands or stand around and wait for something to occur, because things just don’t “happen” that way. Good luck, with your scholarship pursuits and your education and now, “Go out and Get ‘Em!”

Jack and Ruby Terwilliger are buried side by side in the cemetery in Albany, Ky., Ruby’s home town.