Ruth Stacy doesn’t get out as much as she used to and her days aren’t nearly as busy as they once were, but she is OK with the change of pace.

The 88-year-old said she gladly sets her own schedule now.

“I do only what I want to do now,” she said. “I get to decide.”

Earlier in life Stacy, a breast cancer survivor, owned and operated a gas filling station, was partner in a dirt contracting business, was a leader in the Natchez chapter of the League of Women Voters, traveled the globe and raised two daughters.

Now, Stacy seldom ventures out of her Natchez home except for her standing hair appointment every two weeks.

Since she stopped driving several years ago she depends on the assistance of her family and friends to do errands for her.

“I never had a wreck or a ticket or anything. I gave up on my accord after I fell and crushed my shoulder,” she said. “And the insurance just got so high.”

She said one of the biggest blessings in her life has been the friendship of Caroline Doughty. Doughty, along with Stacy’s daughters, often picks up groceries and runs errands for her.

“I am fortunate for my age to have so many good younger friends,” she said.

Stacy said Doughty also drives her most places including her hair appointment. Doughty also had a wheelchair ramp built outside Stacy’s home while she was in the hospital after the fall that broke her shoulder.

“She treats me like I’m hers,” Stacy joked. “She tells me ‘you’re not going to do that’ or ‘you are going to do this.’”

Although she is grateful for the help, this former businesswoman is used to running things on her own.

Born in 1921 in the Oklahoma oil town, Big Hart, now called Barnsdall, Stacy said she was a child of the Oklahoma oil boom in every sense.

“My daddy was a supervisor in the oil field. We had a pump right in the middle of the town square,” she said. “I was literally raised in the oil field.”

And because of the nomadic nature of the oil business, Stacy said she spent many of her younger years moving from oil town to oil town.

“We crossed the Kansas-Oklahoma line so many times, it was hard to distinguish the two,” Stacy said.

After completing school in Wichita, Stacy was offered a job in Shreveport, La., but opted to return to south Louisiana instead.

“My daddy didn’t think I could make enough money to live up there,” she said.

And because of that bit of advice, Stacy got her first chance in the business world. After returning to Louisiana, she began working as a bookkeeper at a gas station in the oil field and after a few years of service she was given the chance to purchase the station.

“The owner was from Texas and just like everyone from Texas he wanted to get back,” Stacy said.

So she purchased the station and ran a successful business for several years before meeting her husband, Roland Stacy, in the oil field. They married in April 1942.

Roland is the reason Stacy is in Natchez today. She said he was working for a contractor “on both sides of the river” when the river flooded and forced him to move across the Mississippi River to the Eola Hotel in Natchez.

“That is where he was when I moved here in ’46.”

After running such a successful gas station, Stacy didn’t just want to sit around in Natchez. So when her husband opened a dirt contractors business and she was ready to get to work with him.

“It was suggested that we make the business a partnership,” Stacy said. “I wanted to be able to take care of myself if anything happened.

“And Roland went along with it, too, so I was a full fledge partner.”

And it wasn’t just a title. Stacy had her hand in the day-to-day operations of the business including keeping accounting records, payroll and paperwork.

And while that was a full-time job, Stacy found time to become actively involved in the League of Women Voters as well.

Her mission was to get people, women in particular, involved in the political process and to get them registered to vote.

“Our primary thing was just promoting voting,” she said. “We worked on a local level.”

Stacy and her colleagues spent many hours working to get women involved in voting and the political process.

“We helped a good many people,” she said. “I think the league could take credit for getting a lot of people voting.”

One of the main issues the league wanted to change was the poll tax assessed during voting.

“We put a lot of work into that,” she said. “We didn’t think you should have to pay a tax to vote.”

And though the league is no more, the lessons learned are still active in Stacy.

“I still go vote every time there is an election,” she said. “I think everyone should be interested in government. If they want to protect it, they have to be active.

“I’ll go to the polls even if I have to crawl.”

And she isn’t voting blind. Stacy makes sure she is well informed before casting her ballot. She also tries to stay active in politics on all levels.

But she isn’t depending on voting to make changes in legislation. She actively pursues any legislative issues that she thinks need change.

“I write letters when I think something needs to be changed,” she said.

Right now she has an active letter writing campaign against illegal immigration.

“That is my most pet cause,” Stacy said. “I’ve been working on that for several years.”

Stacy, a staunch Republican, said she feels politicians should take a firm stand against illegal immigration because of the adverse effect it has on the country.

“Think about what is has cost in jobs and money for the U.S.,” she said.

And no one is safe from Stacy’s letters. She wrote a rather scathing letter to Arizona senator and former presidential candidate John McCain after hearing a speech he made on immigration.

“He said something that made me think he was wishy-washy on the issue,” she said. “So I let him have it. I even have his book but you need to be firm.”

She keeps up with her national politics by watching the news on television.

“I particularly like the evening news,” she said. “I think I watch FOX news more because, as they say, they are ‘fair and balanced.’”

And though she no longer has a business to run, Stacy is still busy behind the desk in her office. Only now instead of writing checks or balancing account books, she’s voicing her political opinion.

And although the life she has now is nowhere near as hectic as it once was, that is just fine with Stacy.

“I feel, I think, better at 88 if I stay by myself a lot,” she said. “That way I can work on the stuff that I’m interested in.”