Get to know Heather Rutz in this week's Member Spotlight.
Thanks for asking me to introduce myself.
So, I am not a mascot groupie, as you might think by these photos. They do tell a lot about me, though: my enjoyment of baseball and traveling, my pride for my adopted hometown of Lima, and the loves of my life, my wife Beth, and our son, Emmanuel.
I was born in Cleveland and raised in Lorain County. I’m into character building and moral victories, so I’ve remained a fan of Cleveland sports teams, but our family enjoys visiting other stadiums, especially ballparks.
I’m forever grateful to be raised by parents who modeled love, inclusion, and service, and who encouraged, rather than endured, a certain headstrong daughter.
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an FBI agent, until I realized I wouldn’t be able to shoot anyone if I had to.
Deciding to become a reporter was my way to chase down the ‘bad guys.’ I was also following in the footsteps of my grandmother, who was a journalist.
I was a journalist for a long time, and even though I now have a job that comes with a living wage, I’m still a reporter at heart, and a staunch defender of the First Amendment and a free press.
A job at The Lima News is what brought me to Lima, something else for which I’ll always be grateful. Lima has been very good to me. I met Beth at the newspaper. We have been married 12 years and we have a soon-to-be-9-year-old son, Emmanuel, who was born in Ethiopia. He’ll be a third-grader soon at Liberty Arts Magnet Elementary School.
We are active at Trinity United Methodist Church, and we volunteer with Family Promise, for which I’m also a board member.
I’ve been blessed to live all around Ohio, and travel to many parts of this country; I’ve stuck my toes in the oceans of both coasts. Because of that experience, I have learned there is no place like home.
I’m very proud to call this vibrant, diverse, hard-working, full-of-potential town my home.