Obituary of Laura Geraldine Ruybalid

Laura Geraldine Broughton Lux Ruybalid was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 16, 1939, the first child of Acy and Lucy Broughton. A few years later, the family of three  moved across the Ohio River to Covington, Kentucky. Geri enjoyed only-child status for five years and “reluctantly” gave that up when her sister, Judi, was born. A second sister, Brenda, followed a little over two years later. Even though having two little sisters changed her world forever, she loved them, and they idolized her.

The Broughton family lived in Covington for four years, apart from Acy’s military service in the US Navy. But when Lucy’s physicians recommended she move to a dry climate due to health issues, their lives were to change dramatically. Acy found employment with the Santa Fe Railroad in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the family moved across the country, traveling by train on the Southwest Chief.

Geri was not quite 10 yrs. old when the family arrived in Albuquerque. She was sad to leave behind her school friends and her roller skates. She was used to spending summer days roller skating on the city sidewalks of Covington. But Albuquerque was bleak and dusty, with only goat head stickers, lizards, and cacti in the blazing hot August sun. There were no sidewalks for roller skating, and Geri shed many tears, begging to return to green Covington. But in time, she made new friends and came to love New Mexico like no other place. She loved its bright blue skies, perpetual sunshine, and gorgeous sunsets. (She liked to “rub it in” with her family members in Ohio when she knew they were going through long, gray winter months.)

Geri graduated from Sandia View Academy in 1957 and went to work for the IRS in downtown Albuquerque. In December 1959, Geri married William (Bill) Lux, a former high school sweetheart, and they settled down in Albuquerque while he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of New Mexico. Their son Robert was born in September 1960, and soon the young family moved to southern California for Bill to attend graduate school at the University of Southern California and then further at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, where son Anthony was born in November 1963, the same week President JFK was assassinated while she recovered in the hospital. Geri often recalled that the hospital staff were in tears as the news was reported. Bill’s subsequent career took them to Cuernavaca, Mexico, Perdue University in La Fayette, Indiana, where daughter Laura was born in November 1965, back to New Mexico for two years at NMSU in Las Cruces, then Albion College in Albion, Michigan, for a year, and two years at the University of Alabama Huntsville, where son Carlos was born in July of 1969, the same week Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and Woodstock Music Festival was held soon after in August. The family then returned to Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in the summer of 1970.

During these years and multiple moves, Geri raised her children, continued to take college courses, and eventually obtained her bachelor’s degree at Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM. In addition, she became a nutrition specialist, establishing and operating Natural Foods De Santa Fe, one of the earliest health foods stores of its kind in New Mexico. When her children were grown, and on their own, she followed her

dream and enrolled in the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts, where she became a licensed massage therapist--a skill at which she excelled.

After Geri’s marriage to Bill ended, she accepted a position at the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources in the New Mexico State Forestry in Santa Fe, where she worked for several years as a procurement specialist. Eventually, Geri relocated to Ohio to be near her sisters and other family members, living with her adorable dog, Charlie, in a beautiful condo in Centerville, where they enjoyed long daily walks. Geri made many new friends and routinely worked out at the gym in the local recreation center. She loved spending time with her Ohio family. But Geri missed New Mexico and her New Mexico family, so she visited as much as possible. During this time, she reconnected with her earliest high school sweetheart, Jerry Ruybalid, and their love story came full circle. They were married on March 21st, 2014.

Jerry and Geri loved New Mexico, so it was inevitable that they would choose it as their home together. They found their dream retirement home in Bosque Farms near Albuquerque, with beautiful vistas of the mountains and New Mexico sunsets, where they settled down, with grandkids nearby and great-grandkids now starting to arrive, the extended family brought blissful happiness. They loved their new home, enjoyed family gatherings, traveling in their RV, local church concerts and events, and their dogs, Marley and Rally, but mostly they just enjoyed being together.

Sadly, they both became ill in November 2021, and while in recovery, Jerry aspirated on food and succumbed to pneumonia on December 12, 2021. Geri was left with not only serious long-term health problems but a broken heart as well. Not long before they became ill, Jerry gave Geri a stuffed white tiger, telling her that if he were the first to go, he wanted her to remember him when she looked at it and know that he would be waiting for her when she arrived to take her hand, and “they would walk all over heaven together.” After he passed away, Geri held on to the hope that they would be together again. Geri knew it to be true because she was strong in her Christian faith and loved her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Rest in peace, Geri and Jerry.

Geri was preceded in death by her parents, Acy and Lucy Broughton; grandparents, John Jenkins and Laura Jenkins Tracy; Edward Broughton and Margaret Broughton Jackson; and husband, Jerry Ruybalid.

Geri is survived by her sisters, Judi and husband Les Neff and Brenda and husband Howard Robben; children, Robert Lux, Tony Lux, Laura and husband Matthew Rivera, and Carlos Lux; grandchildren, Tabbatha and husband Josiah Garofalo with three great-grandchildren Charlotte, Aria, Rowan, Acy Lux and his wife Cheryl, with five great-grandchildren Anthony, Santiago, Adalynn, Elie, and newborn Lenora, Noah Lux, Niccolas Lux, Dean Rivera and his wife Jessica, Alyssa Rivera and great-grandchildren Cyrus and Titus, and Omar Lux; one aunt, Marie Jenkins Ward; and numerous nephews, nieces, and cousins, all of whom love her very much.