Ruby Booker

Ruby Diane Booker, 78, passed away peacefully to her heavenly home on January 7, 2021 at her residence in LaGrange.  She was born on February 9, 1942 in Shelbyville Kentucky, the daughter of the late Ralph and Margaret Thomas.  Ruby was a member of Pleasant View Baptist Church.  Diane Booker organized the African American HIstory Committee at the Oldham County HIstory Center in 2004.  She was enthusiastic and determined to explore her history and the history of the community that she loved.  With her knowledge of oral histories passed down and experiences as a member of the local community she began documenting Black families and their history in Oldham County.  Diane raised up many important people from the past who made our community a better place but whose good deeds had been unrecorded.   Her work contributed to the recognition and placement of the Oldham County History Center on the National Underground Railroad Network site from the National Park Service. Diane was a researcher and very enthusiastic about her ancestors.  With her research she found that her great grandfather, Alex Beaumont,  who is buried at the African American cemetery in LaGrange, was one of the 24,000 Black Union Soldiers in Kentucky that fought in the Union during the Civil War- researcher Robert Bell, helped Diane explore Alex Beaumont's past.   Diane's legacy as a historian as already influenced our local knowledge of history and her work will preserve that history for her children and grandchildren and future generations to come.

She is survived by her daughters, Gwenetta Haywood, Sylvia Ashby, Geraldine Thompson, Karen Booker, Robbie Boone, LaTosha Bishop ; sons, Eric Booker and Demetrius Booker ; brothers, Gilbert, Edward and Wayne Thomas ; grandchildren, Anthony, Michael, Tiffany, Christopher, Neco, Isaac, John, Eyvonne, Elana, Evan, Daren, Josiah, Eric, Eric Jr., Jessica, Jacquelyn, Jasmine, Mackenzie, as well as a host of great and great-great grandchildren.  A graveside service will at 12:45 PM at Louisville Memorial Gardens Funeral Home East, 11601 Ballardsville Rd., Louisville.