Ruth A. Austin
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Ruth A. Salme Austin was born in Worcester, MA on June 22, 1937 to Stanley A. and Esther C. Salme. She attended North High School and graduated as a Registered Nurse from Worcester Memorial Hospital. While studying as a nurse, she met the love of her life, Dr. Frederick Lowell Austin, Jr., while he was finishing medical school. They married on June 13, 1959 in her family's church, Wesley United Methodist Church in Worcester.
Soon after they started their family while relocating many times throughout the country as a Navy family. Ruth was a proud Navy Officer's wife, supporting her husband's medical and Navy career and meeting many lifelong friends along the way. In 1974, they settled in Pittsfield to raise their daughters near family.
Ruth had a natural sense of duty helping others. She was a dedicated and loving wife and mother of four equally devoted daughters. She was an active member of South Congregational Church in Pittsfield, MA for 47 years, serving on many boards, and her proudest contributions were singing alto with the choir, Chancel Bell Group, May Matoon Group, knitting hundreds of mittens and prayer shawls, and working alongside dear friends in the St. Joseph Food Kitchen.
She loved tending to others and she did selflessly, whether with the Women's Medical Auxiliary, volunteering at Hillcrest Hospital, Springside Greenhouse, supporting her daughters' classrooms, after-school activities, and Brownie troops, but her greatest pleasure was undoubtedly playing the piano for Cecilia Conuel's dance studio in Dalton, at church, and for patients at Berkshire Place. Music lifted her soul. Family was always at the center of her life. She is known for enjoying her home filled with the laughter of her daughters' and her daughters' friends and for always carrying a photo album of her daughters and grandchildren everywhere she went.
She is survived by her loving husband, Frederick, of 62 years and her adoring daughters, Rebecca Thacker and her husband Jeffrey of Cary, NC and their children Lindsey and Zachary; Laurel Austin of Pittsfield and her son Seth Conner; Melissa Haddick and her husband David of Berkeley, CA and their daughter Gabrielle; and Susan Kirk and her husband Jeffrey of Melbourne, FL and their sons William, Benjamin, and Jackson. Ruth is also survived by three great-grandchildren, a nephew, nieces, and many dear friends. She is predeceased by her sister, Susan D. Keith of Holden, MA, and a grandson, Austin Thacker.
Funeral Notice:
Funeral services for Mrs. Ruth A. Salme Austin will be Friday, September 17, 2021, at 4 p.m. at the Unity Terrace at the Dwyer-Wellington Funeral Home, 220 East Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201, with the Rev. Joel Huntington, Pastor of South Congregational Church, officiating. Calling hours at the funeral home will be held prior to the service, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.. Burial will be private at Rural Cemetery in Worcester, MA. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made in her memory to South Congregational Church. Please visit www.dwyerfuneral.com to leave condolences and remembrances.