Lou Dell Margaret Waters Ruskey-Halsey

A colorful life fully lived, Dec 28, 1931 to Aug 17, 2025

Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No. 997
"Voice of the Lower Mississippi River"

Preamble: i'm sharing this very difficult event in my life, the passing of my dear mother.  She seemed immortal, so i am having difficulty with it.  But this is helpful to be able to write about. Many of you reading this knew her, or some part of her life.  You might be surprised to learn about the many other lives she led. She made me who i am, literally and spiritually, and philosophically, and in so many other ways.  i would not be here today writing this, and everything i do would not be possible without her.  And so i felt it necessary to honor her life.

Lou Dell Margaret Waters Ruskey-Halsey
Dec 28, 1931 to Aug 17, 2025

Lou Dell Margaret Waters Ruskey-Halsey passed away Sunday morning Aug 17th at 8:54am and is now on her final celestial journey.  Her end of life suffering is over.  Her long life is a cause for recognition and celebration. She lived a full and colorful life -- as mother, grandmother, (and now great-grandmother), as sister and aunt; as painter, opera singer, piano player, and social worker.  She was a pioneer, like her ancestors, who crossed the Great Plains with a team of oxen during the westward expansion. But she converted that trailblazing zeal into her own children, her community, and her artwork.  She hailed from 6-generation Colorado family.  She helped pull herself and her family upwards out of the Great Depression by the straps of her cowgirl boots, with a keen sense of morality and a do-good work ethic in the tradition of the Rocky Mountain West.  She is mother of 8 children, 9 grandchildren, and so far, 3 great-grandchildren with her first husband, Francis “Frank” Ruskey (married 24 years, 1952-1976).  She is step mother to 2 stepsons and 3 step-granddaughters with her second husband, Gary Ruskey-Halsey (married 34 years 1991-2025).

Lou Dell lived a deeply spiritual life; born into and rooted in Catholicism, she later converted to Buddhism.  She lived a simple life, and always believed in honoring, recognizing, respecting, sharing and giving back — and in the overall good of the community.  She was a creative person, and always shared the fruits of her labor.  She worked for social justice.  She believed and modeled for her children the peaceful means of achieving the goals in life, of health, happiness and economic success.  She raised her family and lived within the philosophy of the democratic process, which involved compromise and sometimes sacrifice, but always ended with the best course taken for the good of the majority.  Her children experienced this democratic process in their upbringing as siblings (Painfully so at times -- like sharing the bathtub as a kid with my younger bro and sis!).  Lou Dell continuously encouraged a creative & constructive family life, and made it thrive within the household — and beyond.

Lou Dell was born at 7:30pm on Dec 28, 1931, at the Mary Donaldson Hospital, in Denver.  She grew up along Clear Creek, in the shadow of the Coors brewery in Golden.  Her father, Ernest Edward Waters (d. 2000) and mother, Louise Margaret Murphy (d. 2000) had a furniture store, maintained apartments and sold real estate.  Born with a strong work ethic, Lou Dell helped support herself and her family by working through high school and college summers at Foss Drugstore.  She attended St. Mary’s High School, in Denver, and graduated to go to Webster College St. Louis with a voice scholarship. There she studied piano and other diverse subjects including literature, art history and painting.

As a spiritually-motivated soul, she began steps towards becoming a nun. That pathway forked when as Foss Drugs waitress she met “fountain boy” Frank Ruskey of Vancouver, BC, Canada, (d. 2000), who was a geophysics and geomorphology student at Colorado School of Mines.  They married in 1952 and had eight children, living throughout the Rocky Mountain West, mostly in Denver and Evergreen, Colorado, but also Sunrise Wyoming, with forays into Alberta, Canada, and Sierra Madre, California, and thrived together in a very lively domestic nucleus, as often happens in the culture of a large family.  

Lou Dell successfully juggled the raising of 8 children who were born across a span of 13 years. She balanced the household and finances, and together with Frank Sr. the breadwinner, nurtured love, creativity, inquiry and action, with family cooking and sit-down meals always a cherished time.  She was an emotionally intense person, and at her core embodied love, justice and spiritual devotion and expression. She enjoyed a good laugh — something passed down from her father and siblings (and the Dalai Lama!).  Good-natured humor from real-life foibles and reflections were common in the family home, given the blending of so many active lives.

Lou Dell (and father Frank) were parent adventurers, not only under the family roof, but also in their schools, their communities, in their churches, and on family vacations (which usually involved piling all 8 children into a 1970s era green Ford Econoline van and driving south into Baja California, or north into Canada, camping and picnicking along the way, once into Alaska following the Alaskan Highway).  At home, Lou Dell led her children on endless creative activities including drawing, painting, writing, cooking, acting and music.  (Some of our fondest memories are gathering around the upright piano while Mom played and sang goodies from the Stephen Foster songbook, and American folk music in general, always encouraging us to do the same).  When not making music, she wore out the vinyl grooves, filling the house with phonograph classical and folk and jazz and pop music.  (I still have Joni Mitchell and Keith Jarrett and Chuck Mangione and Missa Luba and Jesus Christ Superstar and many others ringing in my ears!).   Household music was a constant reminder of the harmony of life.  Her children were brought up to get along with each other, and with the world, and with all creation — a great lesson for all of us to carry forward.
 
After raising all eight children, Lou Dell returned to higher education, and graduated in 1977 from the Metro State College Denver with a Masters in Social Work, on a Clairol Scholarship (which was available to women over age 30 who wanted to educate themselves or retrain to reach certain career goals. Most of the money went to women who had interrupted their education for the responsibilities of marriage, child-rearing, and support of family). Always wanting to help the underserved, she became a leading counselor for the Denver County DA Family Violence Unit.

A decade later, Lou Dell moved to Pinos Altos, NM, and became director of the El Refugio Shelter, located in nearby Silver City.  Here she focused her accumulating skills as visionary leader, and enabled significant expansion of that rural SW New Mexico program that provides a lifeline for women and children caught in the cycles of domestic violence (organization still alive & active).  She camped under the stars on a high rocky ridge, in a tent, for over half a year, literally building her own house from scratch in the high Chihuahuan desert on a mountainside near the Continental Divide in Pinos Altos.  “Casa de Piedras,” she called it, house of rocks.  The walls were raised in the shape of a perfect circle, using adobe bricks she and her children formed from the soil sourced on site, and "vigas" (roof rafters) with lodgepole pines harvested from nearby Gila National Forest.  The house is still standing.

In 1991 she married woodworker Gary Halsey (b.1940, Charlotte MI), and they expanded on Lou Dell’s original round house design, adding a second floor on top of the original footprint, also round, and also from hand-fashioned adobe bricks and lodgepole pine vigas.  On this high granite rock ridge, perched over long desert plains leading into Mexico, they created a creative homestead compound, including woodworking workshop and an airy straw bale artist’s studio.  Lou Dell and Gary converted to buddhism, nurtured by Lama Shenpen and the Dalai Lama at the Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche Iron Knot Retreat Center. She retired from social work.  Her artwork flourished during this era of her life.  She completed hundreds of oil paintings featuring her beloved husband Gary, her many children and grand-children, the expansive southwestern landscapes, flowers, and subjects from nearby Old Mexico.  

In 2007 Lou Dell & Gary moved to Clarksdale, MS, where they have since resided on the banks of the Sunflower River.  She continued painting for another decade from her home & studio in Clarksdale, enjoying the rich cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta, and the ever-inspiring muddy landscapes, (as well as fun visits from her grandchildren), but then eventually set aside the paintbrush as the abilities of her body reached their limits.  A life-long battle with lower limb edema, and a botched 1960s surgery, hardened her protean resolve, and somehow seemed to help her maintain keen mental health through the last years of her life.

Lou Dell was loved by many.  She is survived by all eight of her children, from eldest to youngest, Frank (Victoria, BC, m. Sue Choi), Lorraine (Conifer, CO, m. John DeAndrea), Ernest (Stowe, VT, m. Laurie Wood), Jennifer (Clarksdale, MS), Abigail (Olympia, WA), John (Clarksdale, MS), Christopher (Colorado Springs, CO, m. Lauren Bianchi), Mary (Laramie, WY); by nine grandchildren Jennifer, Albert, Gabriel, (m. Fiona Bergeron), Ian, Emma, Nicholas (m. Brianna Farrell), Gavin, Ari, Francis; and by three great-grandchildren, Perrine, Arthur and Orion.  Lou Dell is also survived by her sister Katherine “Kit” Turner (Waters, Phoenix, AZ, m. Neil Turner); nephews Michael Waters (Ouray, CO, m. Cari Waters), and David Turner; and nieces Penny Vance (Waters, Longmont, CO), Valerie Waters, Tanya Turner, and Robyn Turner.  

Lou Dell is survived by her husband Gary Ruskey-Halsey, and one surviving stepson, Ryan Halsey (m. Tammi), but not by one deceased stepson, Scott Halsey (d. Charlotte, MI, m. Maria).  She is also survived by three step-granddaughters, Bailey, Madeline, and Gracelan.

Her first husband, Francis “Frank” Ruskey (d. 2000) preceded her in death, as did her parents Ernest Waters (d. 2000), Louise Waters (d. 2000) and brothers Tom Waters (d. 2017) and Richard Waters (d. 1991), and nephews Tom and Greg Waters.

Lou Dell played classical piano, American folk music, and sang opera.  She composed original music. She created thousands of sketches and paintings of all sizes, primarily in oil, but also worked in pastel, acrylic, watercolor.  Her drawings are rendered in pencil, charcoal or pen & ink.  Lou Dell also composed poetry, and kept a personal journal periodically throughout her life.

When in good heath Lou Dell & Gary were active members of the CARE Station, making food deliveries during the holidays.  Throughout the decades they have also supported numerous Clarksdale organizations including the Delta Blues Museum, the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Association, the Tennessee Williams Festival, the Friends of the Sunflower River, the Lower Mississippi River Foundation, (and also St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital of Memphis).

The family would like to thank the faithful and unfailing personal care provided by Priscilla Redmond and her daughter Katie.  Nurse Brandi and Nurse Jamie from Adoration Hospice were exemplary in their humane medical care, as were Nurse Tina and Nurse Autumn from Legacy Hospice.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Meredith-Nowell Funeral Home of Clarksdale.  In lieu of flowers, the family encourages planting a tree in memorial of Lou Dell (option online at funeral home website), and/or making a memorial donation to the Care Station community food & meal provider located in downtown Clarksdale, MS (next to the Delta Blues Museum).  Or to cause of your choosing.  El Refugio might be a good one.  Or Iron Knot Ranch.  Memorial Service for Lou Dell Margaret Waters Ruskey-Halsey to be announced. Lou Dell wishes to have her ashes spread over the Mississippi River, so that they flow downstream and spread all around the world.  She always loved travel!

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Note about Care Station: Clarksdale, MS, Care Station is dedicated to fighting food insecurity by providing essential food assistance to households in need. Our program ensures that individuals and families struggling with hunger receive nutritious food items that meet their basic nutritional needs. We prioritize accessibility by allowing each car to receive support for up to three households, fostering a caring and efficient environment while maintaining the utmost respect for everyone's dignity. Join us in our mission to alleviate hunger and promote wellness in our community.