Obituary of Ruth K. Sweetin

Ruth Alice Kelley Sweetin, 105, formerly of 165 Hotchkiss St. in Jamestown, passed away peacefully in Connecticut on November 29, 2012 with her family by her side. A lifelong Jamestown resident, for the last six years she had been a resident of the Greens at Cannondale and the Wilton Meadows Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Facility in Wilton, CT. Ruth was born in Buffalo, NY and moved to Jamestown as an infant with her parents, the late Alice May Barnett and Duane Jacob Kelley. She married Harry Leslie Sweetin in May of 1937 and lost him suddenly to heart disease in 1969. She was a 1921 graduate of Jamestown High School and went on to study at Jamestown Business College, Chautauqua Institution, and Albright Knox Institute in Buffalo. A gifted amateur artist and flower arranger, Ruth had oil paintings exhibited in shows in NYC and Chautauqua. Prior to her retirement in 1979, she had been employed as office manager by the Maddox Table Co. for 25 years. Ruth had many talents and passions. She was an avid painter, contract bridge player, gardener and opera buff. She traveled widely with Elderhostel and delighted in the wonderful trips to Japan, South America, and China that were arranged by the late Sarita Weeks and the Fine Arts Travel Society. If she had one regret, it would be that the Buffalo Bills never won a Super Bowl during her lifetime. Ruth was a communicant of Holy Apostles Parish, Saints Peter & Paul Church. She was instrumental in organizing the first Mothers March on Polio in 1952 and was active in many organizations including the Jamestown Duplicate Bridge Club, Marvin House Women's Club, Remocwen Club, Green Thumb Garden Club, the Transplants, Antique Study Club, Chautauqua County Society of Artists, Audubon Society, Lakewood Rod & Gun Club and Thule Lodge. At the age of 80 she raised a Golden Retriever puppy for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. She is survived by her daughter, Mary S. Minard and husband Duane of Westport CT; her three granddaughters, Rebecca Minard of Duxbury, MA, Elizabeth Ruth Forminard and husband, Jared of Mendham, N.J., and Jennifer Leslie Minard and partner, John Roscoe of Sullivan, Maine; and five great-grandchildren, Morgan, Chandler and Alden Gisholt Minard, and Miles and Griffin Forminard. In addition to her husband, Ruth was preceded in death by her son, Thomas P. Sweetin of NYC, who died of lung cancer in 2000. A memorial service will be held in Jamestown in the Spring of 2013 on a date to be announced by the Lind Funeral Home.