Rubie Mae Loessin

Rubie Mae (Machu) Loessin was the eldest of 9 children born at home to Albin E. and Vlasta (Kovar) Machu of Granger on March 24, 1941. Rubie developed early her masterful skills in childcare by assisting her Mom with the younger siblings.  Along with that duty, Rubie grew up performing the work children in rural communities knew well – chopping cotton around the Machu homestead east of Granger, managing gardens, rolling out kolache dough, and canning in the kitchen.

Inspired by her parents and grandparents’ level of participation, Rubie dedicated the same commitment to active service and leadership in Granger’s Czech Brethren Church and SPJST Fraternal Lodge 20.  Her service in the church, and first stint as childcare provider, began in her teens when she became housekeeper and babysitter to the church pastor and his wife. Her adult leadership roles included many years as President of the Christian Sisters, singing in the choir, and 20 years as custodian -- faithfully cleaning all facilities weekly along with tending the grounds.

While in high school, Rubie worked for Mikulencak’s Dry Goods store and, after graduating Granger High School in 1959, she would take business classes through Durham’s Business College, in Austin. It was during that same time she met Leslie Eugene Loessin, of Circleville, at a carhop on Taylor’s W. 2nd St.  Home only a month following his 2-year stint in the Army, Les begged through that evening before Rubie finally relented and hopped on his Harley. “She immediately began pointing and telling me where to go,” Dad joked on many occasions, “and she hasn’t stopped yet!” Les was soon indoctrinated into the Czech culture and institutions of the tight-knit Machu clan and the two were married April 22, 1961 in the Granger Brethren Church.

The Loessin Gin in Circleville had been in operation for 40 years when Rubie married Les and, after a year living on Taylor’s Washburn St., the newlyweds purchased a property a half mile north of the Gin’s location on the San Gabriel. The property would become their home for the next 60 years. Having had his childhood bungalow home beside the cotton gin tossed about by the San Gabriel floods of ’57 and ’59, Les relocated his parent’s home to sit beside his and Rubie’s new place where he and his dad would proceed to open a new TV & Radio Repair Shop at the driveway entrance. Soon after launching their new venture, Rubie began one of her own that would last almost 40 years, providing daycare out of the family home.  By the time she retired she was caring for the children of the children of the children with whom she had launched the adventure.

It was in this home full of other people’s children that Les & Rubie would raise their two sons, Terry born (1963) and Kelly (1973). It was a home full of life, laughter, and love, with grandparents and other kinfolk enjoying coffee at her kitchen booth while Rubie supervised the kiddos and tended to her pressure cookers on the stove -- the lids of still-steaming canning jars popping intermittently as they sealed to the beats of Country music and the Vrazel Polka Band playing on the radio.

Rubie loved the old Country stars, especially Porter and Dolly who she had the pleasure of meeting multiple times.  The couple first took family to Nashville in 1968 and it became an annual tradition.  In addition to her daycare income, Rubie sold AVON for 11 years to make the trips possible for extended family.  Still later, for eleven years she organized charter bus tours to the Grand Ol’ Opry and Dollywood enjoyed by the couple’s many close friends and family.

When both her parents and, later, Les’ Mom became elderly and infirmed they would be relocated to the house beside Les and Rubie’s where Rubie could better serve as their primary caregiver. In this role – as she had done as mother, wife, and childcare provider – she was fully self-sacrificing and focused on the needs of others.  This time doing it all while downplaying the courageous health battles she privately waged not once, but twice defeating cancer in 1999 and 2011.

In their sunset years Les and Rubie delighted in the time they got to spend with their grandchildren and being outdoors in the yard they’d worked jointly to beautify over the years. Rubie continued canning whatever Les brought in from garden and fruit orchard, and together in evenings they shelled the pecans that Rubie then used in her baking.

Rubie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2013 but was able to continue in the home she loved, increasingly with the invaluable help of her family and Standards Home Healthcare, until 2022 when both she and Les transitioned to WinnieL Nursing Home in Cameron.  The family are especially grateful to her sisters, including long-term care providers Angie and Sharon, and Amedisys Hospice Care and the WinnieL staff - especially Stella and Ethan - for providing such loving care to Rubie.

Rubie was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Eugene Machu of Taylor.  She is survived by her husband Leslie, son Terry of Circleville, son Kelly (wife Stacey) of Georgetown, grandsons Trevor (wife Sam) of Brenham and Payton Ames of Georgetown, granddaughter Lauren (fiancé Will) of Hutto, brothers Albin F. Machu (wife Elaine), Marvin Machu (wife Barbara), sister-in-law Rose Machu, and her sisters Marie Ann (& Henry) Ripple Jr., Angie Malicoat, Sharon (& T.J.) Mikulec, Debbie (& Larry) Haag, Sandra (& Clement) Strmiska.

There will be a visitation at Providence Funeral Home on Tuesday, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.  Following services at the Taylor Brethren Church on Wednesday at 10:00 AM, Rubie will be laid to rest at the Machu Family Cemetery in Granger. Following the internment a luncheon will be provided at the Taylor Brethren Church fellowship hall.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Machu Cemetery Association, 909 T.H. Johnson Drive, Taylor, Texas 76574, Machu Cemetery and Taylor Brethren Church, P.O. Box 351, Taylor, Texas 76574