Ruth Rule Kemman

   After a full life of adventure and caring for others, Ruth Rule Kemman, aged 95 years, seven months of Newburgh, Indiana, died peacefully in the wee hours of April 21, 2025, at Newburgh Healthcare. Born September 21, 1929, in Princeton, New Jersey, to the late Frederick and Helen Turley Rule, Ruth grew up in the small town of Kingston, New Jersey, near Princeton. As a child Ruth learned the lore of nature from her gentle father and the art of sewing from her industrious mother. 

   Often in her youth, Ruth accompanied her mother and brother on road trips to visit relatives. Later, Ruth expanded upon this tradition by taking her brother’s two teenaged boys on a life-shaping cross-country journey. With her new convertible as their chariot, they ventured from New Jersey to New Orleans to the Grand Canyon and beyond, weathering storms, desert extremes, and other vicissitudes of the road, with no set itinerary, no mobile phones, and no Google Maps.

     After graduating from Princeton High School, Ruth left home to study nursing at Washington Sanitarium and Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland, doing her practical training at Washington Adventist Hospital, and earning her Bachelor of Nursing Degree in 1950. But Ruth soon returned home and began her career as a staff nurse at the Infirmary of Princeton University, enabling students to remain on campus and continue their studies during illness. For the last two years of her time there, Ruth held the responsibilities of Head Nurse and all this entails. 

    Because the Infirmary closed for the summer, Ruth often spent those months working as a nurse for summer camps. Fittingly, she and her husband Jim met at a Boy Scout camp near Promised Land State Park in Greentown, Pennsylvania, where Jim had the job of assistant scout master, and the rest is the history so familiar to many of you: August 24, 1961, Ruth W. Rule and James H. Kemman married at the Princeton University Chapel, receiving family and friends at Ruth’s parents’ home in Kingston. Ruth’s mother, Helen, an excellent seamstress, made Ruth’s dress herself, from Italian linen Ruth and Jim purchased together in New York City. Ruth’s niece, Barbara, and her daughter, Janet, both wore this same wedding dress.

     The new couple made their first home in Landisville, Pennsylvania, then moved to Takoma Park, Maryland, where they began their family. But before long they purchased a lovely, brick two-story home in nearby Silver Spring. Perched high upon a hill and guarded by graceful and tall oaks, “Southwood Avenue,” as they liked to call it, became their haven and home for many years to come. While Jim’s engineering adventures took him all around the country, Ruth attended to the professions of homemaking and caring for children as seriously as she had nursing. Baking bread, sewing clothes, canning produce from her garden plot, grinding fresh coffee beans, and cooking nutritious meals soon became the fabric of her life, as did helping her children develop a love of learning and of virtue. And by volunteering in their elementary school, whether in the library or by calling the attendance, Ruth kept a close and loving watch. Later, she contributed to the volunteer efforts to save Northwood High School. Ruth also devoted herself to extended family, friends, and neighbors, attending to each with great care and abundant love. Any stress Ruth felt in her daily life, she relieved through kneading the doughs of her delicious breads. When certain loaves appeared on her board, the children knew to walk softly, treat her extra-gently. Whenever possible, the family made summer retreats to her brother’s oceanfront home in Manasquan, New Jersey, or to Jim’s father’s farm in Kempton, Pennsylvania. Throughout their years together in Newburgh, Ruth and Jim made frequent trips East to visit Janet and Fred, with Ruth also keeping her children’s friends under her loving wings. Later, Ruth and Jim would become doting grandparents.

     In 1987, after 18 years in Silver Spring, and with their children grown and on their own, Ruth and Jim said goodbye to Southwood Avenue, heading for new territory, so Jim could accept a job with Electronics Research Incorporated. After taking time to settle in, Ruth became an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Historic Newburgh, beginning in the 1990s. Along with volunteering for other projects, Ruth devoted herself to helping Jim and the other members produce ice cream, craft buckeyes, and run the booths. Love of learning, a particular joy Ruth hoped to share widely with others, made her an ardent supporter of the construction of the Newburgh Chandler Public Library, and she and Jim worked tirelessly to support this cause.

     In their later years together, Ruth and Jim had several opportunities for travel, their trips to Monterey, California being especially dear to her heart. Later, she enjoyed adventuring with her children, including living aboard a house boat, cruising the waters around Chincoteague Island in a small tour boat (she adored the dolphins and ponies), and riding in the cab of a big-rig at age 93. In her “retirement,” Ruth spent many hours artistically and meticulously cross-stitching mementos for family and friends. She also loved to work crossword puzzles, which helped to keep her mind razor sharp. Ruth enjoyed the blessing of having several devoted friends with whom she most recently attended Epworth Community Church, and they often enjoyed meals out at favorite restaurants. Until very recently, Ruth took great pleasure in planning menus and preparing them from scratch each week for her “Tuesday Group” friends. On trips near the shore, she devoured all the fresh seafood her petite frame could hold, and she relished sitting with a good cup of coffee or a small glass of Merlot and quietly watching the ocean. But she also cherished the Ohio river and the people and places around it and the abundant goodness nourished by it. 

    In addition to her parents, Ruth Rule Kemman was preceded in death by her husband, James Hugo Kemman and his parents, Hugo A. and Helen (Barnes); two sons: Frederick Hugo Kemman (1963) and Frederick Barnes Kemman (2022); her brother, Marvin Eldridge Rule and his wife Anne E.; and sister-in-law, Jenny-Lou (Woofie) Kemman Fisher. 

    Ruth is survived by her daughter Janet L. Kirby (Richard M.); granddaughter, Sarah M. Kirby; and grandson, Steven F. Kirby, all of Point of Rocks, Maryland. Also surviving are daughter-in-law, Gretchen Myers Kemman of Martinsburg, West Virginia; grandson, James C. Kemman of Shepherdstown, West Virginia; step-granddaughter, Meghan K. Crawford (Jason R.) of Kensington, Maryland; step-granddaughter, Emily K. Lienhard (Patrick D.) of West Haven, Connecticut; and great-grandchildren: Caden Crawford and Leo and Ada Lienhard. A brother-in-law, Larry Fisher, of Kempton, Pennsylvania also survives, as do nieces Amy Fisher Thompson and family, of Media, Pennsylvania and Barbara Rule Traficonte and family, of Waterford, Maine; surviving nephews include Kurt Fisher and family, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania; Marvin Earl Rule and family, of Hamilton, New Jersey; and Robert A. Rule, of Waterford, Maine. Close friends and neighbors living in or near Newburgh include Ruth Hahn, Mary Luckett, David Krantz, Theresa and Bob Pittman, and Gerald, Carmen, and Summer Ingram. Ruth’s family extends special gratitude to everyone who loved her and helped to care for her. 

    A funeral service will be held at 11 am, Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Titzer Family Funeral Homes, Simpson Chapel, 510 W. Jennings St. Newburgh, Indiana, 47630, (812) 853-8314, the Rev. Danny Barr officiating. Burial will follow at Rose Hill Cemetery, Newburgh. Visitation will be from 5 pm to 7 pm, Friday, April 25, 2025, and on Saturday, from 10 am until time of service, at the Titzer Family Funeral Homes, Simpson Chapel, 510 W. Jennings St. Newburgh, Indiana. 

    Memorial contributions for Ruth Rule Kemman may be made to the Friends of Newburgh Chandler Public Library, P. O. Box 723, Newburgh, Indiana 47629. Condolences may be made to the family through www.titzerfuneralhomes.com.