SMITH, Ruth Hays - b. January 4, 1903 - d. November 8 1986

[Janet Harrington]

Ruth Hays Smith, 83, died Saturday, Nov. 8, in Prescott, Arizona.  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, Arizona,;  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.