Ruth Ellen Rahimi

Ruth (Hatch) Rahimi, 79, most recently of Clark Fork, Idaho, passed away peacefully on August 1, 2026. She is survived by her sister, Libby Lafferty; her nieces, Tina (Lafferty) DiCicco and Ruthie (Vincent) Palmatier; her nephews, Kevin Lafferty, Peter Vincent, and Tom Vincent; and numerous grandnieces and nephews. Ruth was known for her intellect, biting wit, and an unmistakable preference for animals over people.

Born on January 7, 1947, in Southern California to Lozelle and Pearl Hatch, she grew up as the younger (and cooler) sister to Carmen (deceased) and Libby. Ruth graduated from La Cañada High School in 1965 and Scripps College in 1969. After college, she ran a New Age bookstore called The Mandala in Pacific Grove, California, where every Christmas she gifted her nieces and nephews books intended to instill a lifelong love of reading (not always successfully).

Later, she returned to Southern California to study and teach Clinical Psychology at Trinity College of Graduate Studies, establishing a professional practice that embraced alternative approaches such as hypnotherapy and past-life regression. Even though she never formally finished her PhD, her family affectionately entertained the honorary title of “Dr. Ruth.”

Dr. Ruth loved Cadillacs and living at her parents’ condo in Laguna Niguel. During that chapter, she married Mehdi Rahimi and gave her love to his children and grandchildren. Aiming for something more ambitious than a typical cat lady, she took up raising horses at the ranch she shared with Mehdi in San Juan Capistrano and began offering equine therapy for children. Ruth found spiritual connection in equal measure among horses, Catholicism, and Diet Coke.

Following a divorce, she and her horses relocated to Solvang, California, where Ruth rode them in local parades. Eventually, Ruth moved to Idaho, where she opened a drive-up coffee and pastry hut aptly named The Pony Espresso.

She was supported by a generous inheritance until, in 2020, her ex-stepdaughter assumed her financial affairs. A month later, Ruth discovered her funds were gone. Unable to live independently, Ruth found a home at the Community Restorium in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, where she was fondly cared for during her remaining years.

After a period of isolation, Ruth recently reconnected with her family, and she was grateful to be able to visit her sister Libby one last time this past Christmas. Her family is equally grateful to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff who returned her safely in her nightshirt after she disappeared late at night looking for a bathroom.

We thought she might be near the end when her caretakers remarked she was acting unusually pleasant. She passed the next day.

Ruth’s one stated regret was that she never got to visit Hawaii. Her family will take a portion of her ashes there to fulfill that wish.

Aloha, Dr. Ruth!