Uncrowned Community Builders

Ruth Houston Cathey was born on July 25, 1929 in Springfield, Missouri. She was raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Her mother was a school teacher and her father was the minister of the Presbyterian Church of Rock Hill, South Carolina. She graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1950. After graduation she taught in Alabama where she met and married the late Eulis M. Cathey, Sr. They settled in Buffalo, New York in 1952. She earned her Master's of Science Degree from the State University College of New York at Buffalo.

After the birth of her children, Ruth began teaching in the Buffalo Public School System. She was the first African American to obtain tenure in the Buffalo School System in physical education. She initially taught in the elementary schools and then when on to teach at Grover Cleveland High School for twenty years. She taught physical education, health and coached three sports. Her volley ball team and track teams won three city championships and her basketball teams won three city championships and two sectional championships. After retiring in 1987 with 31 years of service, Ruth worked two years in the real estate business.

She is a former member of the Gamma Phi Omega, Buffalo Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., where she held several offices including Basileus (President). She is a founding and charter member of Xi Epsilon Omega, the Amherst Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and a life member as well as a Golden Soror (fifty plus years of service).

Ruth was elected national President of the Alumni Association of Johnson C. Smith University in 1995 and served for four years, making her and her oldest brother, W. Eugene Houston, the only brother and sister to hold this office. She formerly served as secretary of the New Jersey Chapter and Regional Director of Region 1 of the Alumni Association. She received the chapter's outstanding alumni award in both 1995 and 1996.

Ruth has two children, a son Eulis, a record executive residing in New York City, and a daughter Patrice, who is a poet and the director of the Liberty Partnerships Program at Buffalo State College. Patrice is also an Uncrowned Queen. Ruth has three adult grandsons, Jonathan E., Stephan and Patrick Barr.