Ruth M. Webb, of Lambertville, New Jersey, passed away on Sunday, June 18, 2017 in hospice care at the Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington, NJ.

Born and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Ruth was the oldest of 7 children. Married in 1942, she came to New Hope, PA in 1947 and lived in that community until 1963. The next four years took Ruth to the Caribbean and then to Greece. For two years she held the position of librarian at Anatolia College, an American school for Greek students in Thessaloniki. At the conclusion of her contract Ruth toured throughout Europe. Eventually she booked passage on a freighter that sailed from Marseilles, France through the Suez Canal, with ports of call in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and, finally, Japan. Returning to the US, Ruth’s first stop was Hawaii. The unique climate, culture and people of the Islands captivated her and she settled in Honolulu where she made her home for the next 32 years. Ruth enrolled in graduate school at the University of Hawaii and, in 1968, earned her Master’s Degree in Library Science. She became the reference librarian for the Kaimuki branch of the Hawaii State public library from which she retired in 1986.

In 1996 Ruth returned to the East Coast and resided in Lambertville for the next 21 years. Her fascination with travel, books and people and her zest for living never left her. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

She was the wife of the late Stockton Webb, the mother of the late John Krick Fisher and the daughter of the late Eugene P. and Blanche MacDougall Rogers.
Ruth is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Christina Fisher Christensen and Timothy R. Smith of Lambertville; her grandsons Dorian Christensen and his wife Maura Erwin of Los Angeles, CA and Nicholas Smith of Albany, NY and her great-grandson Jackson Shea-Fisher of Seattle, WA.

A service to honor and remember Ruth will be held on Friday evening, July 7, 2017, at 7 pm at the Solebury Friends Meeting House, 2680 Sugan Road, New Hope, PA 18938.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in Ruth’s memory to Public Television/ WHYY, 150 N 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (esteele@whyy.org) or to Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org).

Arrangements are under the direction of the Van Horn-McDonough Funeral Home, Lambertville, New Jersey 08530 (vhmfh.com).