Before Cook County Board President Daniel B. Ryan died, his widow, Ruby Ryan, had little interest in holding public office.
But when the late Mayor Richard J. Daley approached her about taking her deceased husband’s place on the Cook County Board, she gladly obliged–and a colorful 20-year career in politics was born.
Mrs. Ryan, the last of a long line of Ryans to serve on the board, died Wednesday in White Stone Nursing Home in Chicago. She was 94.
Mrs. Ryan’s late husband served 33 years on the County Board. The Dan Ryan Expressway was named after him.
Mrs. Ryan’s father-in-law, also Daniel B. Ryan, served nine years on the board, two of them as president, until his death in 1923. The Dan Ryan Woods on the city’s South Side was later named for him. Mrs. Ryan also had a woods named after her–the Rubio Woods forest preserve at 143rd Street and Ridgeland Avenue in Crestwood.
When Mrs. Ryan retired from the board in 1981, she put a political legacy lasting nearly 70 years to rest.
She spent much of her time as a commissioner working for troubled youths and was credited with almost singlehandedly bringing about the construction in 1973 of a new juvenile detention center on the city’s West Side. She was also chairwoman of the Democratic Women’s Club of Cook County for 11 years and was a member of the board of directors for several charitable groups, including La Rabida Children’s Hospital and Research Center, the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research at Cook County hospital and the Catholic Big Sisters group.
“The thing I remember most about her is she did become a respected politician in her own right, even though it was at a time when women weren’t making a move to the forefront in the political scene,” said her grandson, Daniel B. Ryan III.
Mrs. Ryan was shy and stuttered for years as a young woman, said her daughter-in-law, Bette Whalen Ryan. But she was thrilled when the late Mayor Daley asked her to replace her husband on the board, and she quickly took to her new role.
“The minute she got into it, she lost that stutter,” Whalen said.
Current Cook County Board President John Stroger, who served with Mrs. Ryan as a commissioner, said her experience as a Ryan was obvious.
“She brought with her the family experience to the job,” he said. “She brought to the board that family history on what the board should do.”
He said she spent much of her energy working on issues related to Oak Forest Hospital, Cook County Hospital and the Audy Home juvenile detention facility.
“I just always viewed her as a person with real class and a distinguished lady,” he said.
By the time she completed her work with the board, Mrs. Ryan felt she had contributed a lot to the city, her grandson said. As a result, she was disappointed when her political career came to an abrupt end after Democratic slatemakers selected someone else to run for her seat.
“She felt awful about it. She was terribly disappointed,” her grandson said. “She felt she still had a great deal to contribute.”
Mrs. Ryan is survived by another grandchild, Marcy Dignan, six great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
Mass will be said at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in St. Germaine Church, 4240 W. 98th St., Oak Lawn.
