Newington Obituary: Ruth Pape, 107

Ruth Williams Pape, 107, of Newington and South Lyme, and formerly of Plainville, passed away peacefully, at home, on February 21, 2018.

Daughter of the late political cartoonist O.P. Williams, syndicated with Hearst newspapers, and Grace Woodfall Williams, Mrs. Pape was born in Boston and grew up in Malden and Rockport, MA, and Brooklyn, New York before coming to Connecticut in the late 1930s. A graduate of Pratt Institute, she taught art at the Broad Street School in Plainville. Later, she was a substitute teacher to a generation of elementary school children at the Broad Street, Linden Street and Frank T. Wheeler Schools.

She practiced a variety of decorative arts until the last few years of her life, passing on her knowledge and skill to her daughter, granddaughters, and several troops of Girl Scouts in Plainville. Noted, too, for her cooking and hospitality, she passed those skills on to the young women and men in her family, as well as young friends and Girl Scouts. Some of those Girl Scouts, now in their seventies, recall learning how to cut Crisco into flour and roll out dough to make cherry and apple pies with lattice-top crusts.

She leaves a son, William Nelson Pape of Newington and South Lyme, a daughter, Susan Wells Pape of Norwich and South Lyme, two granddaughters, Pamela Woodfall Stebbins of Manchester and Christine Stebbins Ricard and her husband Michael, and four great grandsons, Alexander, Zachary, Joshua and Matthew Ricard, all of Moodus. She was predeceased by her husband, William "Bill" George Pape, owner for many years of Adkins Printing and Office Supply in New Britain, and her sister Margaret "Peg" Woodfall Williams, a noted watercolorist of Rockport, MA, and Elizabeth "Betsy" Williams, who died in childhood. She is survived, too, by numerous nieces and nephews.

Beloved by both family and friends of all ages, she enjoyed cooking for others and introducing younger generations to the rituals and varieties of tea and their preparations. She had a whimsical sense of adventure which she shared with her children and their friends: picnics in the dead of winter, for instance, a foot of snow on the ground at People's Forest State Park, huge chunks of ice crashing into one another and the river banks, peanut butter, grated carrot, and raisin sandwiches on the menu, accompanied by a tall thermos of steaming tea.

The family offers heartfelt thanks to Brenda Kelly, Certified Nurses Aide, who provided devoted end-of-life care to both Mr. and Mrs. Pape, which allowed them to remain in their Newington home.

A celebration of her life will be held at the Newington Memorial Funeral Home, 20 Bonair Ave., Newington on March 1, 2018 at 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Lucy Robbins Welles Library, 95 Cedar St., Newington, CT 06111. Both Bill and Ruth Pape were volunteers at the library for many years.

To share a memory with her family, please visit us at www.newingtonmemorial.com.