Ruth Henrietta Wight (1908 - 2000)

Born 7 Nov 1908 in Dorchester, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Died 16 Jul 2000 at age 91 in Portland, Cumberland, Maine, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Janet Prochazka [send private message]

Biography

Ruth Henrietta (Wight) Inman was born 7 Nov 1908 in Dorchester, MA. She was the daughter of William Edward Wight and Hattie Montgomery Cushing.

Ruth passed away 16 Jul 2000 in Portland, ME, and was buried July 2000 in Milton, Norfolk Co., MA.

Obituary

Ruth H. Wight Inman, 91, Artist.

Ruth Henrietta Wight Inman, career woman, artist, and beloved aunt to three nieces and two nephews, died July 16 at Mercy Hospital in Portland at the age of 91. She was a resident of Milton, MA, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, Me, and life-long summer resident of Long Island.

She was born November 7, 1908, at the family home in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She attended elementary and junior high schools in Dorchester. When she started high school, she and her family, including two younger sisters, moved to Milton, MA. Every summer was spent at the family homestead, the Ezekiel Cushing House, on Long Island, ME, where her mother had been born and raised. She lived in her Milton home until 1997, when she moved to Cape Elizabeth to be with her sister Evelyn Hickok. While in Milton High School, she contracted tuberculosis and had to spend several months in a sanatorium, as was the custom in the early 20th century. After being discharged, she completed art school and business school in Boston. In the early 1920's, she joined the Junior Women's Club in Milton, serving as president for a year. It was here that she forged lifelong friendships with seven other young women. The group did many things together: parties, picnics, trips to the countryside, and vacations on Long Island. Four of these women survive and remain close friends.

In the early 1930s, she began a lengthy career with the Federal Government, working for over 30 years at the Federal Milk Market Administration until her retirement. The then Miss Wight was ahead of her time. In an era where it was expected that young women would marry soon after high school and commence a lifetime career of housekeeping and motherhood, she chose the life of an independent career woman. As her parents, William and Hattie Wight, aged, she evolved into the role of primary caregiver for them. She was also very close to her nieces and nephews, playing the role of loving and benevolent aunt to all. She loved to tell stories to the next generation, especially family oral history. Much of this she also wrote, as she felt it to be extremely important to remember the past. In fact, she was a charter member of the Long Island Historical Society.

In spite of her commitment to her career and her art, it was at her office that she met Ray Inman, who in 1969 would become her first and only husband. Ray and Ruth were as wildly in love as if they had been in their twenties. They enjoyed over 11 years of happiness together, dividing their time among their home in Milton, Mr. Inman's camp in Groton, Middlesex, Ma, and Mrs. Inman's historic family home on Long Island, ME. Both the Inmans had extraordinary senses of humor, and often told jokes to one another and to their many close friends and relatives.

Although she worked diligently at her career, Mrs. Inman's calling and true love was art. From the time she was quite young, she was frequently found to be drawing and painting. She had her first private showing in 1986(???) at the Milton Women's Club, but resisted being compared to Grandma Moses. After moving to Maine in late 1997, she decided it would be fun to have an art show on her spacious lawn on the East End of Long Island. The first Art Show was held in August of 1998, with many of her works displayed, as well as those of other island artists. As a very social person, Mrs. Inman was delighted at the number of artists and visitors who attended the art show. She was active in community affairs on Long Island, volunteering at the Community Library, was a member of the bridge club, the Wednesday morning art group in her home, and in 1998, was the Grand Marshall of the Long Island Fourth of July Parade.

She is survived by her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Joe and Evelyn Broughton of Pineville, NC, nieces and nephews Janet Prochazka of San Francisco and Long Island, Robert Hickok, William Hickok, and Marilyn Connor, all of Cape Elizabeth and Long Island, and Ruth Clement of Brunswick and Long Island. Donations in her memory may be made to the National Parkinsons Disease Foundation or to the Art Program at the Long Island School.

A Memorial Service will be held at the Evergreen Methodist Church on Long Island, Saturday, July 22, 2000, at 11:30 a.m. A luncheon reception will be held at Mrs. Inman's Island home immediately following the memorial Interment will be in the family plot in Milton, MA, at a later date.

Research Notes

No children.

Sources

• Source

Title: Personal E-Mail & Letter (Janet Prochazka)

Publication: (email redacted to prevent WT DD error)Watson-2385 18:12, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Abbreviation: Personal E-Mail & Letter (Janet Prochazka)

Note: 2nd Great Grandaughter of Asaph E Dyer

Letter from Evelyn (Wight) Hickok (Asaph Dyer's Great Grandaughter)

NS232033

Source Media Type: Letter

Master Listing Source: Y

• Source

Title: Obituary, Written by her niece, Janet

Author: Janet Prochazka

Abbreviation: Obituary, Written by her niece, Janet

Note: Source Media Type: Letter

Master Listing Source: Y

Acknowledgments

This person was created through the import of dyermaeettaaug2010.ged on 10 September 2010.