Ruthie, whose real name was Ruth Grace Moulon, was an eccentric who zoomed from bar to bar on roller skates, often wearing a ratty fur coat or wedding gown and trailed by a string of her beloved ducks.
Moulon died of cancer Sept. 6 at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, La., to where she had been evacuated because of Hurricane Gustav. She had cancer of the mouth and lungs, said Carol Cunningham, a close friend who had watched over her for nearly 40 years.
“I've always looked at Ruthie like a little bird with a broken wing," she said. “She was always so dear to me."
Moulon, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, was born Jan. 19, 1934. She became a French Quarter fixture, achieving legendary status in a city that treasures people who live outside the mainstream. Along the way, she acquired a coterie of people, including Cunningham, who found places for her to live, paid her bills and made sure she got home at night.
