Introducing...Lou Ringer – Force of Nature written by: Monica Ringer Rosenberg

​Lou Ringer is a force of nature.  Anyone who has met her will tell you the same thing.  Need it done, call Lou.  For as long as I can remember, and I’m 56, my mom has been doing for others.
Mom started to guide her own destiny at a very young age. She grew up very poor, but she knew she wanted more.  One day she went to a neighbor’s church event, and she knew she had to belong to this beautiful church and Catholic school, Ursuline Academy in Galveston, Texas.  She had never been in a church.  Before she left the neighbor’s event, she had already begun negotiations with the Priest.  Luckily, that priest introduce jim and her to Mother Mary McCluskey, an Ursuline nun who saw the longing in my mom for something better.  Mother McCluskey told mom she could help her clean and dust the chapel and she would pay her $.50 a week.  She told Mother McCluskey she was a hard worker and would clean this beautiful building if they would let her stay.  This nun was an outstanding person – you see, at 13 my mom couldn’t really read.  She was a product of the depression and a girl, so education just wasn’t that important.  She showed up at the school every day, learned to read and her life truly began.  This is where her Catholic faith was born.  The nuns at Ursuline taught her to reach for a better life.  My mother made lifelong friends at this school, Joyce Plummer-Hugman, is still her friend to this day – and they are 911 My Mom paid back Mother McCluskey by visiting her in New Orleans and making a donation for Mother McCluskey’s 103 birthday.
The nuns of Ursuline prepped mom for something better.  She started working after school at a five and dime, then for the City of Galveston.  She made enough money to have nicer things and pull her family out of poverty.  One day on the beach with her friend Joyce, she met this buff dude that wouldn’t take no for an answer.  They had their first date, and the rest is history.  She and my dad have been married for 71 years.  We celebrated his 94th birthday yesterday.  Just last year they left their beloved Texas City for a residential living apartment in League City. It’s easier to manage, but they really miss their church and their Texas City family.
I say Texas City family because they treated everyone they met in Texas City as family.  It was their home and their community for 58 years.  They would never give up their BOI (born on the island) status, but Texas City was their home.
Mom was always a stay-at-home mom for all five of her kids, but she was the hardest worker I know.  Catholic education saved her life, so she saw to it that each of her kids received the same.  She lived and breathed Our Lady of Fatima and St. Mary’s church.  She and dad built the library, and she was the librarian and worked tirelessly as a volunteer. There was rarely a church bazaar she didn’t chair, or a fundraiser she didn’t run.  She had a booth to raise money for Fatima until two years ago.  That’s a lot of years raising money for her beloved Catholic school and church.
When all her kids had flown the coop, mom took on the city.  She was a card-carrying member of the Texas City Chamber of Commerce the minute she opened her home-based jewelry business.  She took networking to a whole new level.  People are still sad that she doesn’t sell jewelry any longer.  She and dad ran the Silver Tones group for the Chamber for a long time.  They roped all their friends into joining.  They were at every new business ribbon cutting the Chamber had for years.  The Chamber voted both she and my dad as Woman/Man of the Year.
If it was about her beloved Texas City, my mom was there.  Shrimp Boils, Mardi Gras Celebrations, St. Mary’s Altar Society, Arts in Texas City (she was also an avid artist for a long period of time).  Wherever she goes, she’s in charge.  I don’t know if the residents of The Delaney truly know what they are in for.  We love you mom.  You have always been our inspiration and our light.