Her children grown now, Ruzicka presses on with her maniacal schedule. She routinely sleeps only a few hours each night. When the Legislature is in session, she sleeps only a couple of hours after staying up to read bills and trying to understand the full ramifications of each.

"Gayle is very committed," says Don. "It takes a supportive family, too. It's not something everyone can do."

"I used to stay home and not worry about what the rest of world was doing," says Ruzicka. "Just teach your kids correct principles. But pretty soon, the dragons started coming through the front door — what was taught in school, Internet pornography, abortion, homosexuality. Women have had to roll up their sleeves and protect the home. . . . John Adams said our Constitution was made for a moral people. If we want to maintain our liberty in a moral world, we better work hard because we're going to lose it rapidly."

Christensen, for one, applauds Ruzicka's courage. "Because of political correctness, the unpardonable now is intolerance. In Berkeley, Calif., they're trying to decriminalize prostitution because prostitutes say their rights are being infringed upon. The Founding Fathers believed people would be tempted, but that if the majority were allowed to rule, the country would choose morally and wisely.

"But now, with political correctness, the minority rules. Judges and special-interest groups overrule democracy. The built-in protection of the moral majority has been overruled. This is what makes Gayle tick. She feels strongly about it. She's willing to get up and do something about it."

Ruzicka, who carries a miniature set of scriptures in her purse wherever she goes and reads them when there is an idle moment, is tough but soft-spoken, and she does her homework. Peterson notes, "I don't agree with most of her opinions, but I have to tell you, I enjoyed interacting with her at the Legislature. Personally, I like her."

"She's very smart," says another former legislator who has attacked Ruzicka personally and professionally. "She's no dummy. And she's well spoken."

Always busy

When she's not fighting for her causes, Ruzicka is happy to be a homebody. She helps organize a carnival for her grandchildren in her back yard each summer and takes them into her home for much of their summer break, filling their time with community events, miniature golf, Lagoon, trips to the park. Even when she had many of her children still in her home and was swamped with home schooling and Eagle Forum duties, she took in friends of her children who needed a place to stay, sometimes putting them up for an entire school year.

"I've got a lot to do, and I enjoy it," she says. "I've never done it any other way. Life is full of joy if you're busy. There's always someone somewhere who needs me.

"I believe this is what I'm supposed to be doing," she continues. "It's not something I enjoy. I love staying at home. I'm a stay-at-home grandma and mommy. I love being with them. When the kids were little, it was so much work to get them ready. I remind the Lord everyone needs to be released. I've never enjoyed it. I don't like being away from home. I don't enjoy anything that takes me away from home for a few hours at a time. I don't enjoy politics, but somebody has got to do this."

Ruzicka looks forward to the day she can walk away from it. She hopes to serve a church mission with her husband and spend more time in her home with her children and grandchildren.

"I've always said that when the time comes and I'm gone," says Ruzicka, "three weeks down the road they'll be saying, now who was that lady?"

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E-mail: drob@desnews.com