Ruth M Kean

Tributes

Atribute to Ruth Kean, by Kim Hensley Owens, Marla's daughter


My grandmother--my mom's mom--left this earth today. Born the same year as Queen Elizabeth II, she would have turned 100 Monday after next.

She was from D.C., but lived all over the world while she and my grandpa were raising my mom and her siblings--Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkey, Swaziland, Ghana (maybe more, but that's all I can recall). Their home was filled with two things: mementoes from their time overseas, and piano music.

Grandma studied piano and organ at Oberlin 1944-1946. She had met and fallen in love with my grandfather just before she went off to college, and she saved the love letters he wrote her while she was there her whole life; I have them now. He wanted her to finish college, as he already had, but they both also wanted to get married, and after two years, she left school and they married and started their family.

She went back to school, though--first at Montgomery College and then at the U of Maryland, in the 80s, and earned her BA in 1984. Education was extremely important to both of my grandparents.

As kids, when we would visit my grandparents in MD, my brother and I would always sleep in because of the time difference, and Grandma would play Mary Poppins songs on the piano to wake us up. It was a very fun way to be awakened.

Both of my grandparents were fiercely liberal. They marched for civil rights and were always deeply interested in politics. When I started college, Grandma would send me clippings of Washington Post articles--which were quite a bit more interesting and richly detailed than the Tucson Citizen (RIP) or the Arizona Daily Star ever quite managed.

Grandma Ruth was pretty much always cheerful, usually bobbing up and down a bit, her little body holding more energy than most people's. She liked to be on the go, going dancing into her 80s and playing bridge into her 90s. She played organ and piano for many churches over the years, including overseas, and always loved to play at home, too. While she hadn't been able to play for the last few years, she was still smiling and humming up to the end.

I hope there's beautiful, lively music wherever she is, and that she and my grandfather, who died three weeks before Ethan was born, are dancing together again.

In Loving Memory of Ruth Kean

We give thanks for the life of Ruth Kean, who died on April 28, 2026. Ruth would have turned 100 years old this week. She was a member of Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church for 85 years, longer than any anyone else. Ruth was a delightful woman with a tremendous sense of humor. We will miss her smile greatly.

God's Blessings,

The Rev. Molly Blythe Teichert
Senior Pastor, CCPC

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