looking for information on the author, Ruth Smith

[Jo McDonald]

Audrey, I apologize for not reading your post for info about Anges.  When I have called her, she has been able to hear me very well, so you might give that a try, I know that Elwood calls her every day at 3 PM - they are brother and sister and the only ones left in their immediate family.

[Audrey.Thompson]

Thank you, Jo -- I will look forward to speaking with both of them, then!

Yesterday I received the obituary for Ruth Smith in the mail.  I have typed out the information and am including it below.  All of you have been so generous in finding information about her for me, and I am delighted to give you some in return.  I think it was W. Gray who had found out for me (I don't know how!) that she died in Prescott in Nov. 1986 -- thank you!  That was invaluable information and made it possible for me to ask a public archivist in AZ to track the obituary down for me.

Hope you all find this as fascinating as I did!

Audrey

   Ruth Hays Smith, 83, died Saturday, Nov. 8, in Prescott.  Born Jan. 4, 1903, in Howard, Kan., she was the daughter of George and Jane Hays Smith.
   She attended public schools in Howard and graduated from Howard High School in 1920.  She then attended the College of Emporia and graduated with honors in 1924.
   After teaching for a year at Howard, she taught for two years at Barber College, a Presbyterian Mission School for black girls in Anniston, Ala.  She spent the next year at Columbia University in New York City and received her master's degree in English.  For the next two years, she taught at Spelman College in Atlanta.
   She worked as a secretary for the dean of students at Columbia University and as an assistant to a professor there.  She taught at the New York State Women's Prison at Westfield Farm in Bedford Hills, N.Y., and also worked with Pearl Buck and the East-West Foundation and for the American Friends Services Committee.
   She spent one summer writing at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H.
   As a writer, she helped write and edit several books, including "The Tree of Life" published by Viking Press, which was the result of her work with Robert Ballou on "The Bible of the World."  Her book "White Man's Burden," published by Vanguard Press, recounted her teaching experiences at Barber College.
   From 1954–58, she taught at Green Mountain Junior College in Poultney, Vt.  She also taught at Baldwin School in Haverford, Pa., and at the Haverford Friends' meeting.  She was active in AFSC until her retirement in March 1968.
   In 1976, she moved to Columbia, Mo., and settled in Prescott with relatives in 1977.
   She is survived by her sister, Josephine Smith Kerr of Prescott;  a niece, Rebecca J. Brown of Baldwin City, Kan.;  three first-cousins, Mildred Frost Fowler of Omaha, Neb., Maurita Hays Anderson of McPherson, Kan., and Edward D. Hays of Los Angeles;  and several other relatives.
   Services and burial will be in Howard.  Memory Chapel Mortuary handled local arrangements.

[W. Gray]

She sure had quite an academic life.

Worked with Pearl Buck--impressive.

The obit says her burial was in Howard. Next time I am there, I will go searching for her grave site and take a photo and post. If someone locally wants to do so in the meantime, please do.

The Elk County history book gives her date of birth as January 4, 1903, and indicates she was in Prescott, Arizona, as of 1977. Her sister, Josephine, wrote the portion concerning the George Smith family. Josephine mentions only that Ruth wrote two books and where she was located.

Assuming she was not 104 years old by now, I went to the Social Security deceased records web site. Since I did not have a social security number, I did a general search for Ruth Smith. Note that deceased individuals do not have any privacy rights.

Five and one-half thousand hits popped up for a deceased person by the name of Ruth Smith.

Querying on her date of birth returned the fact she died in November 1986 at Prescott. Of all those 5,500 named Ruth Smith, her death is the only one showing a birth date of January 4, 1903.

A day or so later, I received an Email from an individual belonging to an association of College of Emporia graduates who said their records showed her death occurred in 1986.

I did a search for obituaries in Yavapai County newspapers but 1986 was too far back to reveal anything.

[sixdogsmom]

Isn' it interesting how alive this person has become now that we know a little something about her. Good work you guys. She was an interesting Elk county citizen.

[Audrey.Thompson]

A thoroughly interesting story of how you dug up all that useful information! -- I was really glad to know, so thank you for posting the specifics.  She is very hard to track down, because her name is not unusual, so all this information is exciting to have.

Apart from my interest in Ruth Smith as a writer and educator, I am interested in her as a rather adventurous woman born early in the 20th century.  She was born only a year before my grandmother, so it is intriguing to compare their different decisions.

Audrey

[W. Gray]

Ruth Smith, who never married, is buried next to her parents, George and Jane Smith.

The parents were the Smith half of Smith and Goodwin.

[aL]

I live in Nelson, NH. Just found a reference to Ruth Smith in a book by a local author, Newt Tolman ("North of Monadnock", published  1961), p 27. Two paragraphs referring to her. Starts "Some time ago we drove across the river to visit Ruth Smith, who has written some good things, among them an inspired book called White Man's Burden. Ruth is a real old Vermonter, having moved there from Kansas twelve years ago."

[Leonardcrl]

It's never ceases to amaze me how old threads can suddenly come back to life.  I hope the originator (Audrey Thompson?) of this thread finds your response and gives us another update on her search for Ruth Smith.  It has been over 3 years since Waldo's last entry

-=crl=-
San Antonio TX