Although we had been friendly in school since 7th grade, Ruth and I really got to know one another when we went off to Simmons College together, and she has been in my life ever since. I was with her and her family when she died 6 years ago after a remission of breast cancer. She loved her life and her family and friends and was always all about them, no matter what her professional accomplishments and the stress of her illness, which she covered up with incredible bravery.
After Simmons, Ruth moved straight to New York. She was a high school English teacher for a while and then, after her marriage to a writer for Time Magazine, went off to Rutgers for law school. She raised her two children, Erin and Patrick Ainslie in Manhattan, first in a loft in the Meatpacking district, then in a gracious apartment on Central Park. Erin, a Duke grad, is a nursing student at NYU and Patrick lives in Shanghai and is in the film industry. She was divorced when the kids were very young and for many years managed to provide a rich and beautiful life for her children as a single mom, juggling all the challenges of family and career in the big city. I was thrilled to be present at her second wedding, to Tony Schlesinger an attorney and her mentor.
Ruth was an officer with Bankers Trust, and then Director of Marketing for an international trade association, for which she traveled the world speaking and providing representation. When she retired she became an active volunteer and was a leader on the Women’s Board of the Jewish Federation of New York, also working for many other organizations.
I miss Ruth. She was a steady presence for me for all the years and through all the changes in our lives: always brainy, an intellectual inspiration, and a soul mate…. Yet she had all the gossip about everyone. And Ruth was my own “new yorker” who always knew what to see and do. She was smart and witty, elegantly svelte and stylish, and warm and down to earth. She totally did not want to leave us…..
I did not know Ruth after college, nor did I know her all that well during high school. She was bright, warm, and an engaging person as I remember her. I am sorry I will not get to say hello this reunion. Karen Peterson Lohse
Karen Cortell (Robbins)
Although we had been friendly in school since 7th grade, Ruth and I really got to know one another when we went off to Simmons College together, and she has been in my life ever since. I was with her and her family when she died 6 years ago after a remission of breast cancer. She loved her life and her family and friends and was always all about them, no matter what her professional accomplishments and the stress of her illness, which she covered up with incredible bravery.
Karen Cortell Robbins
Karen Louise Peterson (Lohse)
I did not know Ruth after college, nor did I know her all that well during high school. She was bright, warm, and an engaging person as I remember her. I am sorry I will not get to say hello this reunion. Karen Peterson Lohse