Ruth Stevens Knight (1917-2007)

Ruth Knight died peacefully in the early hours of Sunday 4 February 2007 at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was 89. She is survived by her son, Michael Seadle, her daughter-in-law, Joan Luft, her sister-in-law Dorothy Stevens, her first husband, Peter Seadle, and her many friends at Stapeley in Germantown, in Michigan, and elsewhere.

She studied at the University of Strasbourg in France in the late 1930s, at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, at the University of Detroit, and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she received her masters. She was a teacher and elementary school principal in the Livonia Public Schools for almost 30 years, where she introduced French language training in the elementary schools and long had responsibility for music, arts, and humanities programs. She spoke French and also knew German and Italian. She traveled extensively and had a special fondness for art museums. Her last excursion, weeks before her death, was to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see their collection of French impressionists.

She was a long time member of the Detroit and Green Street Friends Meetings. A memorial service in the manner of Friends will take place in Philadelphia under the care of Green Street Meeting, and in Detroit under the care of the Detroit Friends Meeting. Times have not yet been set.

No flowers please. Those wishing to make a contribution in her name should donate to the Center for Urban Education in Detroit, 6223 W Fort St, Detroit, 48209 - (313) 849-5535. She was a long-time supporter and a member of the CUE Board. Contributions may also go to Stapeley in Germantown, 6300 Greene Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19144, or to the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102.

NOTE: This death notice appears in part on my blog because my mother, despite her age, was unwilling to let the modern world pass her by. She wrote email regularly and read newspapers online in multiple languages. The blog will also reach people in multiple communities, which a newspaper notice would not do.