Ruth T Peterson

Family and Friends,

Try this method of posting your thoughts, memory and a photo. (a friend sent me this photo to add)

My husband, my seven-year-old son, and I moved to Hatboro in 1982. Ruth said she got very excited when she noticed a young black child riding his bike with a friend in the neighborhood, because just a few years earlier, there had been a demonstration against a young black pilot and his family for buying a house there. Ruth sought us out and welcomed us to the neighborhood. We became instant friends. She invited us to the Abington Friends Meeting, where we later became members until our move to Florida. When our daughter joined our family, Ruth developed a special bond with her, and my children considered Ruth and Charlie their adopted grandparents. We were at their house for many holidays, and my children always enjoyed Charlie's fun stories and Ruth's famous monkey bread.
Ruth and Charley were always at my children's school activities and graduations, and also were at both my husband's and my graduate school graduations.
The joy she always exuded, the love of life, the acceptance of all people and cultures, and her unfailing kindness to everyone with whom she interacted will always remain with me. The world is a better place because Ruth was born. She remains in my heart.

This article below from the Bucks Quakers newsletter, Quakerphernalia, reprinted with permission, focuses on Ruth Thomas Peterson on the occasion of her 100th birthday on July 13, 2024.

Reflections on Living 100 Years: Old Age is Not for Sissies!
Written By Barbara Simmons, Newtown Meeting

Ruth Peterson has lived at Pennswood Village for 30 years now, having moved there when she and her beloved husband of 75 years, Charley, were young enough to enjoy their retirement.

Ruth Peterson is a lively, thoughtful, engaging host – belying the stereotype we might have of someone turning 100 years old. I arrive at Ruth’s apartment at the retirement community of Pennswood Village to find her painting, a bright light shines over the palette of colors. “Old age is not for sissies!” she says as she welcomes me to find a place to sit for our visit, after giving me a big hug. (Ruth is a self-proclaimed hugger).

Ruth was born on July 13, 1924, in Sheridan, Wyoming, the first state to give women the right to vote. Her mother became one of the first women who voted in the United States, and she kept a diary of this hard-fought right. Her mother was an activist and part of a group that had a vision and mission of giving everyone who reaches the age of 65 a bit of money so they could retire and let the next generation take over. She went to the State Assembly with this message, wearing a pioneer dress with dollar bills pinned on it.

Ruth, born into that activism, carried it into her life. As a mother of four children, Ruth would take her children into the voting booth at their local fire department. Her son still remembers that, and he is very active canvassing to make sure people vote.

Ruth’s legacy has been making sure everyone registers to vote. Whether she is at a Quaker Meeting or greeting new residents at Pennswood Village, she gets them registered to vote in Pennsylvania. If they are already registered, she makes sure their kids or grandkids of college-age are registered. Of the 400 residents at Pennswood, only 6 are not registered to vote.

I ask a question we all want to understand about how one lives to be 100 with good mental and physical health. Ruth lists a few things she believes contributed to her longevity: square dancing has kept her balance and thinking on her feet; she sees a chiropractor regularly, and she always has a project. “Keeping busy and having a positive attitude helps! I believe in having an Attitude of Gratitude!”

I asked Ruth what wisdom she could share as we navigate these divided and difficult times we live in. “This election is the most important in my lifetime! We share a planet with a lot of people who don’t really follow the details of selecting their leaders. Some don’t feel this is important and if ‘I can’t vote for that one, then I won’t vote at all.’

The thing that is most important is your freedom, so vote with that in mind. You are making a decision that will impact you for years to come. If you don’t vote at all, you are helping elect someone, perhaps the wrong candidate.” Christian Nationalism is something that worries Ruth, so she makes sure she talks to people about the importance of voting for a leader that is kind, compassionate and knowledgeable – and she is so grateful for the mail-in ballot!

I asked Ruth, what has been her guide or north star in life? The conversation focused on her spiritual journey. She first attended Falls Friends Meeting but then moved to Hatboro where they attended a Baptist Church. She found that many ‘talked the talk but did not walk the walk.’ One day, she went down to Abington Friends Meeting, entered through a side door and sat in the back. She had tears in her eyes as she felt she found ‘home.’ She and Charlie became members for 50 years, until she gave up driving. She now attends Newtown Friends Meeting, where she can get a ride each week.
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“The thing that is most important is your freedom, so vote with that in mind.”
— Ruth Peterson
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For our last question, I wanted to know how Ruth ‘found her voice.’ “I discovered who I was in therapy. Men had always been the important ones. I was raised in a man’s culture.” She found her ‘wings’ and wanted to do something with it. Thus began a new life of social activism combining her long-time commitment to getting out the vote and walking the walk of Quaker values, the belief that there is the Divine light in everyone.

This belief has blessed so many who have been touched by her kindness. Her life challenges all of us to seek to make a difference.

Photography by Kati Sowiak

Our family was blessed to be one of the young families that Ruth and Charley informally “adopted”. They were essentially the only active grandparents for my children and the only local extended family we had. They were terrific grandparents and we shared an abundance of wonderful moments and memories. I am eternally grateful to Ruth for providing me the empowering and loving support my own mother was unable to provide and for the welcome inclusion of our family by all the members of the Peterson family. We would not be the people or family we are without Ruth having adopted us from the moment we stepped foot in Abington Meeting. Much love to Ruth and Charley as they meet once again in the “next room”.