Obituary of Ruth Stevens Herridge

RUTH STEVENS HERRIDGE (nee McKINLEY) Ruth died at Toronto on Sunday, February 2, 2020, at the age of 89 years. She was predeceased by her parents, Robert and Edna McKinley, her brother-in-law, Robert Whitman and is survived by her sister, Betsy Whitman, Betsy’s daughter, Alison Phillips and husband, Jim Phillips. Ruth is survived by Bill Herridge, her husband and lover of 62 years, her three daughters and their children: Elizabeth, whose husband Roy Burry predeceased Ruth; Margaret, and her husband Robert Stewart, their three children Sarah, Graeme and Matthew; and Catherine, and Catherine’s husband John Hayes, and their children James and Peter. Ruth was born in Rockland, Maine and grew up in Union, Maine. Ruth always valued her Maine heritage, and she and her family spent many happy summers in Maine. Ruth subsequently attended the Northfield School at Northfield, MA. While at Northfield, Ruth contracted polio. However, with strength and determination, Ruth overcame her paralysis and in later life showed great empathy toward others. Ruth then attended Wheelock College in Boston. Qualified as a primary school teacher, Ruth taught in the schools of Weston, MA and became the editor of the Third Grade edition of The Wesleyan University Press’s My Weekly Reader. Ruth and Bill were married in 1957, and moved to Toronto where Ruth was an editor of Thomas Nelson’s Young Canada Reading Series, and afterwards was an editor at the Ryerson Press. Always a fan of ballet, Ruth was a vice-president of the National Ballet Women’s Committee. A strong Christian believer, in the 1970s Ruth organized the Catacomb Club, an ecumenical mid-week Church School in the Rosedale and Moore Park areas. Ruth held a diploma in Theology from the Toronto School of Theology, and served as a Chaplain at the Hospital for Sick Children and at the Ronald McDonald House. Above all, Ruth was truly a born-again Christian. For her, death was most certainly not an end, but rather the gateway to a new life, with new friendships and new purpose. The family will receive friends at the Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles – Newbigging Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Davisville) on Friday, February 14th between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. Ruth’s funeral will be held at Rosedale Presbyterian Church, 129 Mount Pleasant Road at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 15th, with a reception to follow. Interment will be private. Condolences may be forwarded through www.humphreymiles.com.