Ivey Lambert: Living neighborhood treasure

By Susan MacCulloch
Viewpoint Staff Writer

The life of Ivey Lambert and Curtis Park are nearly synonymous. Together they have shared nearly a century together. Born just a block from her long-time and present home at 26th Street and Fifth Avenue, Ivey at 90 years old, mirrors the history of the neighborhood but doesn't miss a beat when it comes to her present day life.

Having lived all but a few years of her life in Curtis Park, Ivey retains an amazing recall of neighbors, their homes, and long-ago everyday life. But she's also actively engaged in the present, still driving, hosting relatives at her house and even recently remodeling her kitchen in her stately two-story, turn-of-the-century house.

Ivey and her parents lived in her grandparents' Oak Park home near McGeorge Law School during her early childhood through high school years. Her father, Richard Ruiter, built a number of homes in Curtis Oaks and other subdivisions, including the house on Marshall Way pictured on the front of the book Sacramento's Curtis Park.

Ivey's father built the original high-basement home circa 1906-07 for Merit Pike and his family. "My father was a gregarious man, friendly with everyone, and good friends with the Pike family," recalls Ivey.

Some years after Mr. Pike's wife died, and he was living by himself, he convinced Ivey's father to move his family with him and add on to the house. Together with Ivey's grandmother, they moved into the expanded home around Christmas 1933, about the time Ivey started college.

Ivey obtained her teaching credential and eventually earned a masters degree from Oakland's Mills College. When her fiancé, Bill Lambert, returned from serving overseas in WWII, they married. While he attended Stanford Law School, she taught high school nearby. When Bill and Ivey returned to Sacramento to begin his legal career, they moved back to her parents' house.

From childhood through a good portion of her married years raising two sons, Ivey always lived with several generations. In fact, after giving birth to her son Kent and contemplating a return to her teaching job at City College, her husband decided a move wasn't feasible because Ivey's parents were so devoted to their first grandchild.

During those years, Ivey, Bill and the kids lived upstairs; her parents helped care for the boys while she taught and her husband practiced law. That daily interaction with the grandparents carried on the history of the family, says Ivey.

Ivey's grandmother and mother were both teachers. Ivey herself taught general subjects and then focused on teaching art in Nevada City, at Sacramento High School, and later at both City College and Consumnes River College where she retired from teaching in 1976.

Ivey maintains her century-old home and remodels when needed with a sensitive eye, drawing on her artistic background and incorporating modern conveniences that seamlessly fit into the existing architecture. Her home boasts original single-paned windows, finely crafted woodwork, built-in cabinets, antiques mixed with Danish Modern furniture, as well as her artwork.

She designed and created an art glass screen incorporating leaves and ferns from her garden. Ivey also created the small glass window insert in the dining room door, incorporating jade, agate and glass collected from Northern California beaches.

Ivey recently remodeled her kitchen incorporating updated elements, including granite countertops but retained a vintage design reflective of the original architecture. She's proud of the downstairs bathroom, complete with the original claw foot bathtub.

Mature trees and shrubs surround her home. She laments the two 100-year-old elm trees recently removed due to disease but is hoping the city can save the remaining elm tree, which has been inoculated. There's a rare monkey-puzzle tree on the 26th Street side that is close to 100 years old.

At 90 years old, Ivey hasn't slowed down. She attributes good family genes to her longevity, combined with an active, engaged life full of visits to children and grandchildren, working with the City College Alumnae Board, her Presbyterian Church women's group, and a book club, among her many interests.

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