Ruth Pullen

Pullen, Ruth, 98, December 4, 2007.  Arrangements by Long Funeral Home.  Interment to be held in the spring in North Amity.     CAMDEN – Ruth Pullen, aged 98, died peacefully in Windward Gardens in Camden on December 4, 2007, with her niece Kathryn at her side. In her long life, Ruth did a great deal of good for many people. She had a lot of fun too.
    Ruth began her life on a farm in North Amity in Aroostook County, Maine, the daughter of Grace Della Reed Pullen and Orrin Willis Pullen. All of the five Pullen children, Hope, Ruth, John, Olive and Varney were bright, lively and had distinguished academic careers. All of them attended the Reed School, a one room grammer school in North Amity, and all graduated from Ricker Classical Institute in Houlton. All but Varney, who went to Northeastern University, went on to graduate from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The five brothers and sisters remained close friends all their lives.
    After graduating from Colby, in 1933, Ruth devoted her career to improving the lives of women and their families. Ruth began as a teacher in Camden and Hallowell, and then became a child welfare worker in the Lincoln, Maine, area. She also worked briefly as a parole officer before beginning a twenty year career as an administrator at the Maine State Women’s Reformatory in Skowhegan, where she retired as Superintendent in 1961. Colby College recognized her achievements in the honorary master’s degree it awarded her in 1961. The citation read in part: “numberless individuals and families who have had major problems of adjustment now count themselves in your eternal debt. You have dealt with those committed to your charge with wisdom and with compassion…Colby takes special pride in one of her own graduates whose unselfish labors have conspicuously benefited society.”
    After her retirement, Ruth went to live with her brother John, the noted author, in Haverford, Pennsylvania, in order to attend law school at Temple University in Philadelphia. She graduated with a J.D. Degree in 1964. Returning to Maine, Ruth became the first woman to practice law in Franklin County. Ruth worked in the general practice of law in Farmington, Maine, in the office of Peter Mills, an old family friend from Colby days. Ruth worked hard to make sure that the progressive credit and bankruptcy laws Peter spearheaded in the Maine legislature benefited the people in Maine that they were intended to help. She retired for a second time in 1979.
    Throughout both of her two careers, Ruth was active in a number of state and local civic organizations. She was very proud of the role that she and her friends in the American Association of University Women and the Business and Professional Women played in supporting Margaret Chase Smith in her election to the United States Senate. Ruth was also active in the Central Maine Chapter of the Maine State Employee’s Association, the Colby Alumni Association, and the Franklin County Bar Association. She was a member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Mental Health from 1965 to 1971 and a Trustee of Ricker College.
    In the last three decades of her life, after her second retirement, Ruth enjoyed spending time at her summer cottage at Lake Wesserunsett in Madison, Maine, and often in the company of her brothers and sisters, niece and nephews. She became a second grandmother to her flock of great-nephews and great-nieces.
    Ruth also maintained a residence in Camden, near her sister and life-long best friend, Hope Gillmor. The two sisters traveled widely througout Florida, the Caribbean, Central America, and also in England. At various times, Ruth also lived with her brother John in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, her sister Olive in Bath, Maine, and her brother Varney in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. Throughout her life, she retained strong ties to her birthplace, North Amity, especially to the farm which remained in the family into the 1990’s.
    Ruth was predeceased by her sister, Hope Pullen Gillmor; her brothers, John and Varney Pullen; and her nephew, Arthur Gillmor. She is survived by her sister, Olive Pullen Palmer of St. Albans, Maine; her niece, Kathryn Palmer Downing and husband Richard Downing of Winthrop, Maine; her nephews, Keith Palmer and his wife April Palmer of St. Albans, Maine; George Gillmor and his wife Teresa Gillmor of Aurora, Illinois;  John Gillmor and his wife the Honorable Helen Gillmor of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Robert Gillmor and his wife Suzanne Coolidge of Blue Hill, Maine.
    She is also survived by her great-nephews, James Downing and his fiancee Amy Crist of Waltham, Massachusetts; Alex Gillmor and his wife Anna Gillmor of Chicago, Ilinois; Max Coolidge and his wife Jen Coolidge of Orland, Maine. She leaves seven great-nieces, Lydia Downing of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Renee Simonitis and her husband Peter Simonitis of Freeport, Maine; Nora Wilson and her husband Calvin Wilson of Topsham, Maine; Jennifer Bowden and husband Douglas Bowden of Aurora, Illinois; Zoe Gillmor of Aurora, Illinois; Reed Bowman of Boston, Massachusetts; and Jessica Adams and her husband James Adams of New York City, New York. Ruth also leaves nine great-great nieces and four great-great-nephews. She is also survived by her dear friends Norman and Mary Cote, and James Elliott, all of Camden, Maine.
    A private memorial was held in Camden, Maine. Interment will take place in the spring in North Amity, Maine. In lieu of flowers, donations in Ruth’s memory may be made to The Reed School Project, c/o Vital Pathways, 37 Bangor Street, Suite 9, Houlton, Maine 04730 or to the Amity Baptist Church, Amity, Maine 04465.