Ruth E. Durkee

TUNBRIDGE—Ruth E. Durkee, 74, died late Monday night, Sept. 10, 2007, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s at the Brookside Nursing Home in White River Jct.

She was born January 31, 1933 in Methuen, Mass., the daughter of J. Archie and Agnes (Bowie) Wain. She attended elementary school in Methuen and Essex County Vocational School in Danvers, Mass., graduating in 1951. She later trained as a nurse at North Shore Children & Baby Hospital in Salem, Mass., where she worked for a few years.

She was a member of the Tunbridge Ladies Aid, Chelsea Lend A Hand Club and the Tunbridge Civic Club. She was also very involved in the Tunbridge Volunteer Fire Dept. where she was the dispatcher. Her fundraising duties for the fire department were many: She organized and typed the Tunbridge Minstrel Show program, the fire department’s telephone book and birthday calendar and made the barbecue sauce for the annual Memorial Day chicken barbecue.

She enjoyed singing, and sang in church choir groups in Massachusetts before moving to Vermont, where she sang in the Tunbridge Congregational Church choir and the annual Tunbridge Minstrel Show.

Survivors include her husband, Robert B. Durkee, Jr. of Tunbridge; two sons, Robert B. Durkee III of Randolph and John Durkee of Tunbridge; two daughters, Barbara Benson and Janet Kennedy, both of Tunbridge; six grandchildren, Amanda Benson, Amy Tibbitts, Darrin Kennedy and Brooke Kennedy, all of Tunbridge; and Joshua Durkee and Katelyn Durkee, both of Randolph; and several neices, nephews and cousins.

Calling hours will be held Monday, Sept. 17 from 6-8 p.m. at the Boardway & Cilley Funeral Home on Main Street in Chelsea. A funeral service will be held Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m. at the Tunbridge Congregational Church, with the Rev. David L. Wolfe officiating. Burial will be held at the Durkee Cemetery in North Tunbridge.

Memorial contributions may be made to either NARFE-Alzheimer’s Research, 225 N. Michigan Ave., 17^th Floor, Chicago, Ill. 60601-7633; or the Tunbridge Volunteer Fire Dept., P.O. Box 34, Tunbridge, Vt. 05077.

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