By SUE ELLEN ROSS Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Ruby Anders is almost as busy now as she was before her retirement.

The LaPlace resident not only volunteers at River Parishes Hospital and her church, Sacred Heart in Norco, but works part time at a local funeral home. Another duty she has accepted is the presidency of the LaPlace chapter of AARP.

“I always liked to keep busy,” she said. “I am not one to just sit at home.” After retirement seven years ago, she has done everything but that.

“When my friends (that work at the hospital) suggested that I volunteer here, I decided to do it,” she added.

She also finds time to fit in visits to her sons, Johnny, in LaPlace; and Charles in Metarie; her seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Anders has served at the hospital four years. Departments she has assisted in are Med-Surgery; Admitting; and Human Resources. Her current assignment is in the hospital Gift Shop.

Visitors and employees alike stop in during the day, and always take time to chat with Anders. “The employees are one big family to me…..I don’t always know them by name, but I do remember faces.”

The two days per week that the lively retiree works in the Gift Shop are filled with helping pick out gifts for customers, blowing up balloons and straightening inventory.

Before retirement, Anders worked fulltime as a Funeral Director. Although the hospital setting is a different atmosphere, she nevertheless can call upon the many skills she has developed in past years.

She welcomes the chance to use her compassionate abilities to help people and work with them under all different kinds of conditions.

A smile goes a long way, according to the cheerful volunteer. “Even when I am not working, I try to remember to smile as much as I can,” she said. “If you have a good attitude, people feel it………….it may pick up their spirits.”

The hospital volunteer group, 24 in all, are all friends, according to Anders. “If someone needs a day off, we will fill in for each other,” she said. “This is a great place to be working.”