Ruby Jane Taylor's 'Sweet Spirit' Touches Many

Just steps from Ruby Jane Taylor’s final resting place, a crowd prepares to set its goodbyes free in the Tuesday sun.

About 100 people hold balloons with messages of love to a grieving family and a little girl who touched so many lives in an all-too-short seven months.

Many of the messages convey the same sentiments.

"Ruby, you are a precious little angel."

"You will always be in our hearts."

"We will always love you."

Then the mourners let their messages go, adrift on the breeze, rising in the warm air.

The Aug 16. ceremony marked the end of a celebration of the life of Ruby, an infant who not only captured the hearts of people in Rancho Santa Margarita, but across the world.

"Little jewel"

Since her birth Jan. 5, Ruby Jane Taylor—the daughter of RSM residents Ani and Matt Taylor—had been battling a rare liver condition called Caroli disease.

When Ruby was 3 months old, her parents learned of the illness and began their four-month struggle to find a liver donor while still taking care of Ruby's older sister, Kate, 3.

Patch detailed a tense three-day period of their life in .

Although the community rallied around the family—holding fundraisers, delivering meals and flooding the hospital with requests to become organ donors—Ruby died Aug. 12 at 12:45 a.m.

A little after 3 p.m. that same day, the Taylors announced Ruby's passing on the Ani and Matt Taylor blog, "Just For the Record."

"Our sweet Ruby Jane went Home to be with her Father in Heaven last night," the Taylors wrote. "We both knew that her mission in this life was completed, and it was time for her to go Home."

Overwhelming support

At 11 a.m. on Aug 16, friends, family and even total strangers packed into the in RSM to remember and honor the Taylors' “little jewel.”

The audience overflowed from the church’s sanctuary into an adjoining basketball auditorium, spilling past the halfway point on the court.

An usher estimated 500 to 600 people attended.

Bishop Kent Smith of the Tijeras Creek Ward of the LDS church gave a brief opening message and said the large number in attendance illustrated how many lives Ruby had touched.

“She will have a long-lasting effect for good in all of our lives,” Smith said. “And judging by the amount of people that are here, that’s a lot of good.

"Sweet spirit"

Mike Bewsey—Ani's older brother—delivered the eulogy, detailing Ruby’s endurance through her painful illness, her laughter when Kate would roll her ‘R’s while talking to her, her happiness at sitting in the park with her mother, and her love of stroking her father’s facial hair.

“And her eyes,” Bewsey said. “She would look at you and peer directly into your soul.”

At the beginning of the event, ushers handed out pictures of Ruby, and Bewsey urged people to “take them home and frame them.”

“Put them where you can see them and let them serve as a constant reminder of her sweet spirit and what she accomplished,” Bewsey said. “Let them remind us (that) for a few months or days or hours, we became a different person in the warmth of change. Do not go home and back to your lives and forget the Christ-like love and faith that baby Ruby and her family have.”

Across the world

In memory of Ruby, the front rows were decorated in pink: pink flowers rested on the dais; many of the male Taylor relatives wore pink ties; and the event schedule pamphlets were a mix of black, white and pink.

Some in the audience dabbed their eyes throughout the one hour service. The cries of young children mingled with the sniffs and tears of the mournful crowd.

But family members weren’t the only ones touched by Ruby’s life.

The congregants were told that the Taylors have received donations from the Middle East, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and Luxembourg, as well as almost every state in the union.

Craig Bewsey, Ruby's grandfather, said, “We of the family have been amazed and in awe of the support that we have all received over the last three weeks ... through donations, through letters and especially through prayers.”

Speaking before his son, Craig Bewsey asked Ruby’s family to stand up. The first few center rows stood.

“Now those of you who never have met Ruby would you please stand,” Craig Bewsey said.

Hundreds rose.

 “Thank you. Truly, truly amazing,” Bewsey said. “She has truly impacted hundreds, if not thousands of lives.”

Corinne Rommerswinkel counts herself as one of those affected. The San Juan Capistrano resident said after the service that she made a big decision last week—inspired by Ruby.

“I actually became an organ donor because of her,” Rommerswinkel said, adding that she signed up through the Taylors' blog. 

Rommerswinkel wasn’t the only one. According to the blog site's counter, as of Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., 1,020 people who had signed up to become organ donors.

The Taylors were hoping to get just 200.

According to Mike Bewsey, those numbers pale in comparison to the number of people who read Ani's announcement of Ruby's passing: the blog received about 30,000 hits Friday morning. It has more than 200 comments.

Many commenters on the site said they were inspired by Ani and Matt's compassion and courage through their ordeal.

Someone who identified herself as Tanya wrote, "Your story and blog has made me strive to be a better mom. Thank you for sharing your journey with all of us."

Another person who identified herself as Lani J wrote: “I've only known your family's story for two days and I feel so blessed from the stories and watching how quickly strangers have been so loving to this beautiful baby girl. I'm heartbroken for your loss ... Thank you so much for sharing your sweet Ruby's story!”

The Taylors

During his eulogy, Mike Bewsey also praised his sister and brother-in-law for their strength during Ruby's illness.

He began his eulogy with an imagined conversation that took place between Ruby and God before Ruby was born: God told Ruby her parents would love and her protect her through her short life.

“She (Ani) will have to squeeze a lifetime of love into seven months,” Bewsey said. “She will do this and more. She will be your rock and your comfort. She’s going to be with you every step of the way.”

And, Bewsey added, “(God said he would) bless you with a father who will be steadfast and immovable. He will support your mother and you in your greatest time of need.“

“Among all my children on earth I have selected only two that can support and love you in the way that you and I need them to.”

And those two, Mike Bewsey said, were Matt and Ani.

 “One last message”

After the funeral, a smaller group of about 100 family and friends attended the interment at the El Toro Memorial Cemetery in Lake Forest.  

Blue arrows led the way to a gravesite in the shade of a nearby tree.

A little after 12:30 p.m., volunteers handed out white balloons on which people used pink Sharpies to write messages to the Taylors and, especially, to Ruby.

Within minutes, a white hearse arrived and four pallbearers helped remove the small pink coffin.

It was covered with flowers, and a heart-shaped wreath that included pink roses rested by the burial site. The words "We love you" were written on a banner that hung down one side of the wreath.

The pallbearers took the casket into the shade of a tall tree and placed it in the center of a circle of chairs covered in green fabric.

Matt and Ani walked slowly to their seats. The bishop said a few words consecrating the ground and Matt said a prayer.

After two songs, another of Ani’s brothers addressed the crowd.

“Today we’re going to release the balloons as a last little message to Ruby,”  David Bewsey said.  "So, 1, 2, 3 ..."

And a cloud of white with trailing pink ribbon rose into the blue sky.

After the service, Ani and Matt stood together for a few seconds, his arm resting on her waist, her sad eyes staring forward.

They want to be left alone with their grief. But they have hope despite the pain. Ani shared that hope in an unscheduled address at the church.

"I know that my Savior lives," she said, "and I know that Ruby is with Him."