About
How the name Ruby Red's came to be
From an early age, I was exposed to and learned to absolutely love music. This love for music has brought me joy throughout my life. I've done a lot of singing on stage and you'll often catch me whistling a tune. My earliest memories of music included Tom Jones, Elvis and a well-worn LP of Helen Ready from my mother's collection. From that album, I memorized the song "Leave Me Alone" also referred to as "Ruby Red Dress", playing and singing to that song over and over again. Ruby Red dress stuck with me ever since that time.
In 1983 my life changed in ways that couldn't be fully understood at the time when I first laid eyes on Tamrah Lynn Craig. Tammy was 15 and I was 18 when our journey first began. I find it fitting that our first kiss was in the line of the Storybook Land Canal Boats ride at Disneyland for my eventual princess bride.
Beauty comes in many forms in this life and is best experienced rather than seen. Since that fairy tale beginning, I've never imagined any other person in this world matching up to my girl. I've come to appreciate that Tammy is the most beautiful girl in the world for me, even with my eyes closed.
In the months prior to our wedding day, Tammy thought that it might be interesting to see how she would look going back to her childhood blonde from her then current auburn colored hair. The result was an unfortunate color choice that left us both looking for options. To save the day, I colored Tammy's hair myself using an auburn, out-of-the-box, color. With only a couple months to the big day, Tammy now had "maroon" colored hair. It was now officially time to freak out. With one month left, my mother came to the rescue and was able to repair the color to what I thought was a beautiful Ruby Red. It wasn't Tammy's first choice of color, but she was gorgeous nonetheless.
That color actually lasted for quite a while as I affectionately began, at times, to call her Ruby Red Dress. Later with our small children around, I often would hear the kids saying; mom, mom, mom which was met with mostly loving, understanding responses from Tammy. However, sometimes I would also hear, leave me alone, just leave me alone... These were the lyrics for the Ruby Red's song and thus the nickname "Ruby" was set in stone...
Once I decided that I would start sharing my love for BBQ with those around us, there was only one name that came to mind and that was Ruby Red's BBQ in honor of my wife. That name stuck and here we are today with our first official restaurant location. Over the years, the Red hair turned back to blonde but the restaurant name remained and I'm still eternally in love with Tammy...
Steve Williamson