Maxine Louise Ruhl

Maxine Louise Ruhl returned to Our Lord at the age of 73, on October 17th, 2011 at her home in Cocolalla, Idaho, cared for and surrounded by her loved ones. Maxine Louise Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, NY on August 1st, 1938. Maxine was given up by her parents Margo Alkana and Louis Kaplan and spent part of her early childhood in foster care until taken in and raised by her Aunt Polly and Uncle Jack Shaw in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1956. In 1959 she married Joseph G. Michaud III and together they brought four children into the world. In 1968, Maxine and her children moved to Southern California. Maxine was a fervent survivor and did whatever it took to raise her children predominately by herself. She sold flowers, waitressed, returned to nursing school, and had a data processing business and in 1985 Maxine joined Hughes Aircraft Company as a Departmental Secretary. While employed at Hughes, she met Joseph W. Ruhl, Jr. They married in 1989 and together Maxine and Joseph raised two of Maxine’s grandchildren, Christina R. Michaud and Michael A. Michaud. In 1993, Maxine left Hughes to pursue a new career doing what she truly loved, cooking. Maxine became a private chef working for Saints Peter and Paul in Wilmington, California. In 1996 she was hired as the chef for the Norbertine Monastery in San Pedro, California until her retirement in 2006. Maxine and Joseph retired and moved permanently to their vacation home in Cocolalla, Idaho in 2006 where she continued to cook for family, friends and various functions at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sandpoint, Idaho. Maxine is survived by: her husband Joseph W. Ruhl, Jr., her daughter Natalie Michaud, sons Robert, Michael, and Joseph Michaud, as well as six grandchildren, Christina, Michael, Joshua, Zachary, Isabelle and Benjamin Michaud. The Rosary will be administered at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sandpoint at 7:00PM, on October 24, 2011. The Memorial Mass followed by a reception will take place at St. Joseph's on October 25, 2011 at 11:00AM. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the St. Joseph’s Debt Reduction Fund.