Ruth Carol Rittenhouse Rollinson, 1926-2023

Ruth was born in Altoona, PA to Roy Calvin Rittenhouse and Clara (Klara) Johanna Marshall (Moerschel) Lehman Rittenhouse. She had an older half-sister, Thelma, and a younger sister, Jane. The family's business was "Penn Public" - a spring and wheel shop attached to their house in Altoona. After her mother died in 1935, followed by her father in 1940, Thelma ran the business and successfully guided it through the Depression years. She also kept the family together after the death of their parents.

Ruth graduated from Altoona High School in 1944 and attended Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA, where she majored in chemistry and minored in organ. After graduating in 1948, she got a job as a chemist at the Institute of Paper Chemistry at Lawrence College in Appleton, WI. She got her position because of the large number of “ORG” classes on her transcript, which the chemists just assumed were organic chemistry lab classes, but in actuality they were organ (as in music) lessons!

Sam (Samuel Milton Rollinson) and Ruth met in Appleton, where he was a grad student at the Institute. They married in 1952. Their first son, Lon (Alonzo Milton, II), was born in July 1953, just as Sam was finishing his PhD.

In St Marys, Ruth became very active in the community. She played the organ for the Methodist church, helped start the St Marys Public Library, and was a Cub Scout den mother several times over. The family enjoyed the coastal life of St Marys – boating and shrimping were favorite activities

In 1967, Sam accepted a position with Georgia Kraft and the family moved across Georgia to live in Rome, GA. Ruth started her teaching career in Rome, receiving her K-8 teaching certificate from Berry College in Rome.

While in Rome, an ELC mission church started up, and Ruth was able to return to her deep Lutheran roots. She was the church pianist (no organ). With the older boys now in high school, she became involved in supporting the band. All five boys played brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, euphonium).

The boys were active in both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts - all five became Eagle Scouts. Ruth became a devoted Atlanta Braves fan. For her 90th birthday, the entire family enjoyed a Braves game at Turner Field in Atlanta.

In 1975, Sam was tapped to build and start up a greenfield bleached board mill for Potlatch in McGehee, AR, so once again the family relocated. In McGehee, Ruth became very active in the McGehee Public Library. At the time, Hillary Clinton was First Lady of Arkansas, taking literacy and child welfare as her signature issues. Hillary made an effort to visit every public library in Arkansas at least once. Ruth became a Hillary fan for life.

In 1981, the family (only Jim was still in high school at the time) moved to Neenah, WI for one year before coming to Childersburg, AL, in 1982, where Sam became the Mill Manager at the Coosa Pines mill.

Ruth and Sam finally made a long-term home in Childersburg. Ruth started teaching chemistry at Childersburg High School, along with tutoring elementary school children in math. She earned her Masters of Education at the University of Montevallo (Montevallo, AL), and became a legend at Childersburg High School. Later, Ruth taught and mentored high school science teachers through the University of Montevallo.

When Sam died in 1997, Ruth became even more engaged in Childersburg life - especially her bridge club and the Childersburg Public Library. Ruth had a soft spot for romance novels and was noted for reading roughly one a day. Harlequin should have made her an editor! Ruth was very active in starting Shepherd of the Hills and kept it in her heart until the end.

Ruth's "Life's Lessons Learned"
(from 50th Juniata College reunion)
* What goes around comes around.
* We never learn from history.
* Time heals all wounds.
* Losing weight is a bummer.

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