Ruth of Georgia

Her gifts were heirloom dresses and a sense of style

John Mitchell Poland and Mary Ruth Walker Poland on a date (left), and “Ruth” Poland years later, still looking good.

Southern women know there are certain occasions that require an exceptional dress. Weddings, holiday dinners, and family reunions come to mind. Even SEC football games call for well-made frocks with bold prints in vibrant colors. 

I credit Mary “Ruth” Walker Poland, my paternal grandmother, for some of my most fashionable childhood memories. She took pride in her sense of style and was not about to let her four granddaughters grow up without knowing gingham from seersucker, or eyelets from lace.

I was 2 when my parents divorced; my sister was 3 months old. We moved to West Virginia for three years but were back in Georgia by 1977—just 70 miles away from where we started. We settled in Athens, an hour-and-a-half drive from Lincolnton where I was born, and where my paternal grandparents still lived. 

Everyone knew them as Ruth and John Mitchell, but my sister and I called them Maw Maw and Taw Taw (a story for another day). Daddy would take us to visit them for holidays, birthdays, and family reunions. A made-from-scratch meal always awaited us, followed by Maw Maw’s pound cake or Taw Taw’s homemade ice cream. For holiday dinners, Daddy made sure we wore a nice dress and combed the knots out of our hair (another story for another day). 

Every Christmas, Maw Maw would lavish us with the latest fashions. One year she gave us monogrammed sweaters with matching corduroy knickers.

Another year I unwrapped a pair of loafers with bright, shiny pennies inserted in the shoes’ leather saddles. I received stirrup pants and a trendy oversized shirt with shoulder pads the Christmas after I turned 13, and I’ll never forget the year of Dooney & Bourke, when I received my first boujee handbag. She even made sure we packed up our fashions in style. I still have pieces of the Gloria Vanderbilt luggage set she gave me the year I started high school.

But Maw Maw really outdid herself when she gave us Ruth of Carolina dresses. These were special heirloom pieces made by Ruth Combs and Daisy Sample of Hendersonville, North Carolina. Their vintage frocks rose to fame during the ’60s, and remained beloved by southern mamas throughout the ’80s. They bore “Ruth of Carolina” tags for authenticity, and could be seen on little girls across the South attending Easter services, weddings, holiday dinners, and other formal occasions. It all started in December 1949 when Ruth and Daisy put their talents and $2,500 into creating a company called Ruth Originals. 

Ruth had attended Traphanger School of Fashion in New York and served as a leader of civic organizations like the Junior League of Raleigh. Daisy managed the business side of things. They set up shop in Daisy’s husband’s sisters’ home, cutting fabric on the dining room table, sewing dresses in the downstairs bedroom, and boxing up finished pieces in the living room.

Ruth Originals grew into a multi-million-dollar operation before being sold in 1977  to Absorba Inc. of New York, a subsidiary of a French company called Poronin. Daisy died in Asheville in 1981. Ruth continued designing dresses for Absorba until she passed away in 1984. Unfortunately, without the original founders’ guidance, the company’s quality diminished and it closed in 1992.

The photo below shows me (left), my sister (right), and my cousin (middle) wearing Ruth of Carolina originals on Christmas day 1982. I recall getting at least two other Ruth of Carolina dresses from Maw Maw during the ’80s. I didn’t understand how special they were then like I do now, and wish I still had them.

Christmas 1982 in Lincolnton, Georgia

Even today I can hear my mother say, while packing our suitcases for a Christmas visit with Daddy, “Be sure to wear your Ruth of Carolina dresses to dinner, girls.” I’ll always have this photo to remind me that we did. I guess we can thank both Ruths for that.

But my pound cake recipe and affinity for really nice handbags? Ruth of Georgia gets all the credit for that.