Decked out in a Tiger blue polo shirt, Ruby Boatley stood behind the Tiger Den register as a University of Memphis football player approached her.
“How are you today Mr. Johnson?” she asked.
“I’m doing good, Ms. Ruby. How are you?” he replied.
“Fine,” she said with a smile. “I’ve heard good things about the team this year.”
He laughed as she swiped his card. It’s an unusual rapport, cashier and student. But it’s one Boatley has developed with many.
“I love my students,” she said. “If you show love, you receive love.”
Ask Tiger Den customers and you’ll find her sentiments have not just been received but reciprocated, too.
“Ms. Ruby is super awesome,” said Jessica Harrison, a U of M sophomore engineering major.
Lawrence Parawan, a junior political science major, added: “She radiates her love to students every morning.”
Two ROTC officers walked to Boatley’s register to check out. Dressed in full uniform, they know Boatley, 70, as the kind-hearted woman who rings up their lunch. What they don’t know is that Boatley once wore a similar uniform. While many students make daily small talk with her, most don’t know this — or where she learned her kindness.
Born on June 28th, 1945 in Memphis, Boatley came as a surprise to her parents, Julia and Jim.
“They had been married for 10 years,” she said. “They didn’t think they were going to have any children, then up popped me.”
Four years later, Boatley had a baby brother.
“I was so proud of him,” she said, laughing. “I used to charge kids a nickel. I said if you want to play with him you’ve gotta give me a nickel.”
Though she enjoyed her childhood, Boatley did experience racism while growing up. She remembers one instance vividly.
It was 1964 and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had just won the Nobel Peace Prize. Boatley was riding the bus, leaving the Memphis fairgrounds when someone mentioned King’s award. The bus driver jeered, stared at Ms. Ruby, and said “Yeah, but he’s still a n*****.”
“I didn’t feel good about it at all,” Boatley said. “No matter how well someone had done on the world stage, they were still considered a n***** by someone in my hometown.”
Having graduated from high school in 1963, she continued her studies at the University of Memphis.
“It was different [then],” she said. “There were [really] no black professors or athletes.”
After she graduated from college, President Lyndon B. Johnson commissioned Boatley to join the Air Force.
“That meant a lot to me,” she said. “President Kennedy was my hero, and he had said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’ This gave me an opportunity to do service for my country.”
Boatley spent the next 11 years in the Air Force. She went to Vietnam twice as a supply officer.
“I had friends who were fighter pilots,” she said. “Some were shot down.”
After her time in the Air Force she worked as a logistics manager for Procter and Gamble. In 1981, she met the love of her life, William, and they were married in 1983.
“He was tall, dark and handsome,” Boatley reminisced. “He was just a whole lot of fun.”
William passed away in 2006.
“When he died I decided I wasn’t going to work anymore,” Boatley said.
After a few years, Boatley took a part time job in 2009 as a Tiger Den cashier. Though she is retired, Boatley continues to work at the University because she loves the students who pass through the Tiger Den every day.
As the ROTC officers left her register, they turned back to Boatley.
“You have a good day now, Ms. Ruby,” one said.
“You too, gentleman,” she said. “Stay strong.”
Ms. Ruby Boatley, who served as a supply officer in Vietnam twice, continues to work in the Tiger Den at 70-years-old.
