Ruth Toth enjoyed spending most of her childhood summers in Ocracoke with her grandparents starting in 1962. She and her husband Bob moved to the island as full time residents in 1978. Ruth taught at Ocracoke School for fourteen years. She and Bob owned and operated Cafe Atlantic for twenty five years. 

After she retired in 2013, she joined a water aerobics class taught by Grace West. Ruth is one of the founding Board members of OCPA and currently serves as President. She is passionate about starting a public pool on Ocracoke because she enjoys spending time in Ocracoke’s beautiful waters. Twice she has witnessed near drowning by children in calm water with no rip currents because they did not know how to swim. Ocracoke has not been able to offer swimming lessons to our children in over ten years.  

Ruth’s mother lived near Greenville, NC and enjoyed water aerobics classes from the time she retired at age 62 until shortly before her death at age 99. Ruth witnessed the importance of staying active during your elder years and believes that Ocracoke’s older citizens would benefit greatly from having access to a pool as well.