Their united approach to Ruth Ann's breast cancer, and the compelling individual stories of each woman, turned the Lobos into arguably America's most admired mother-daughter team.
09.15.1996 | The Republican file photo | SOUTH HADLEY – Rebecca Lobo autographs a basketball for a fan during a booksigning with her mother Ruth Ann Lobo at the Odyssey bookstore.For millions of American girls and young women, Rebecca Lobo was a symbol of the promise and opportunity offered the modern generation.
To the former Southwick resident and basketball star, however, the family’s true icon was her mother, Ruth Ann, who died Tuesday at 67.
Ruth Ann Lobo’s passing marked the end of battle with cancer that lasted more than 15 years, from the time her daughter was leading the University of Connecticut to the height of women’s basketball.
In 1996, mother and daughter collaborated to write, “The Home Team: Of Mothers, Daughters and American Champions.” In the book, they dealt with their emotions and handling of the discovery that Ruth Ann Lobo had breast cancer.
Their united approach to the issue, and the compelling individual stories of each woman, turned the Lobos into arguably America’s most admired mother-daughter team.
Ruth Ann Lobo was a retired counselor at Granby Middle School in Granby, Conn. She was also the school district’s coordinator of compliance for Title IX, the federal laws aimed at assuring gender equity is sports and other areas. When the family lived in Southwick, she served for six years as a member of the Southwick-Tolland Regional School Committee during the 1980s and ‘90s.
Members of the Lobo family, who now live in Connecticut, could not be reached for comment immediately.
The nature of the mother-daughter relationship was unique, primarily in how the public viewed it.
A 1991 graduate of Southwick-Tolland Regional School, Rebecca Lobo has always contended she was fortunate to grow up at a time equality for women, while not yet achieved, was gaining momentum.
Her mother, herself a former basketball player, was an inexhaustible champion of the cause.
Their book described their days in Southwick, where Rebecca grew up an unusually tall (6-foot, 4-inches) and talented athlete. Her mother observed the changing attitudes toward women from her younger days to her daughter’s.
The first cancer detection occurred in the mid-1990s, when Rebecca was at UConn. The family’s subsequent advocacy in heightening breast cancer awareness made RuthAnn a symbol of courage at the same time her daughter had become a symbol of opportunity.
Moreover, it provided inspiration for women who saw it was possible for families to remain close in the face of professional demands, or while dealing with daunting health issues.
“Like you, I’m more than a ‘cancer survivor,’ ” Ruth Ann Lobo wrote on Loboline.com, a website dedicated to helping others cope with breast cancer.
She underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy during treatment.
During her career in the WNBA, Rebecca Lobo shared her feelings about the experience. Her comments were posted on the league’s website. She also encouraged the women’s pro basketball league to take a leadership role in the breast cancer fight.
“When mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, I felt helplessness, fear and anger. No person can teach a kid how to feel when mom is diagnosed with cancer,” she said.
Ruth Ann Lobo was featured on “Beyond Breast Cancer,” a national public television show, and received multiple civic awards – not just for raising breast cancer awareness but her doggedly promoting equality in education.