RUTH HETHERINGTON

AT

ONE HUNDRED

It was June 21, 2008 - a Saturday like no other - among relatives and friends from so many generations. And they came to the historic & nostalgic Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts to celebrate both her and all of us who have been enriched by her example.

Above all else, it was a celebration of family - not just of those related to her by blood but the many others who found themselves adopted into her greater family. Ages ranged from single digits up to 90-plus. But magically, everyone turned young and exuberant and hopeful. There were no sad songs - only happy ones performed by family.

On screen - a visual feast of Ruth’s many lives, served up by her cinematic daughter, Pat O’Hara with input from a few co-conspirators. And what lives Ruth led!

There were many Ruths. There was Ruth - the beauty. Ruth - the hat queen. Ruth - the athlete. Ruth - the musicmaker. Ruth - the teacher. Ruth - the successful business woman. Ruth - the breaker of glass ceilings in the women’s movement. Ruth - the devoted mother and wife. Ruth - the world traveler. And Ruth, the artist - a “Sunday afternoon painter” as she called herself.

To paraphrase an ancient quote from the walls of our National Gallery of Art:

For her story will not be engraved
only on stone above her native earth
but will live on far away
perhaps without visible symbol
woven into the fabric
of other people's lives.

The photographs above:
...Title frame with Wayside Inn background
...Ruth Katherine Burns Hetherington arriving
...Her mother, Kitty from a 19th century photo
...Ruth as an exquisite young lady
...A framed photo during her twenties
...Her 4 children - Allen, Peter, Pat and Kate
...Ruth paints Charles River scene near Harvard Sq.
...Her view of an Arizona Desert vista
...Sister Helena (Ralph & Helena Burns' daughter)
...John Walker & singing partner
...George Olesen having a laugh
...Ralph Burns, Jr.
...Meg Atkinson from Georgia
...Peggy Anne Canty & her mother's wedding trip hat
...Then, Peggy Anne wearing it
...From Chicago, Sister Helena in front of a camera
...Helena with Pat O'Hara's actor son - Michael Weatherly
...Helena, Kate Walker, Pat O'Hara & Peggy Anne
...Finally, a cake that speaks eloquently for itself!