Obituary: Ruth Muriel Eddy (21 May 2009)

Chrispy regrets not seeing this sooner. Mrs. Bell, by her testimony, did not meet Lovecraft as he always arrived after her bedtime, but she listened with rapt attention, under her covers, as he read aloud his horror stories and told tales about cats.

To this, Chrispy can add that Ruth aged 13, was a regular contributor to a children's letter column (in a newspaper, The Day) called "Uncle Andy's" circa 1935-1936. Her litle letters to Uncle Andy are adorable, and at least one was quite a thriller about a cat rescuing a man trapped in a freezer. Hail, Kappa Alpha Tau!

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Ruth M. (Eddy) Bell, 87, died May 21, 2009 at St. Elizabeth Home, East Greenwich.

She was the wife of the late William E. Bell.

Born on May 27, 1921 in Providence, she was a daughter of the late Clifford M. Eddy Jr., and Muriel E. (Gammons) Eddy.

After her marriage in 1986, she lived in West Palm Beach, Fla. until her husband’s death in 2003. Ruth was assistant promotion manager for WJAR-TV in the 1950s and a public relations specialist for the Rhode Island Department of Employment Security for 10 years. She was also director of senior citizens groups in Providence and East Providence.

She served as chairman of the RI Chapter of American Women in Radio-TV, was a member of the National Council on Aging, and was listed in Who’s Who in American Women.

Ruth had many articles published in national magazines and wrote several volumes of poetry as R.M. Eddy. She was the founder of the Rhode Island Writers’ Guild in 1950, serving in various capacities as president, vice president and secretary.

A 1939 graduate of Central High School in Providence, she was editor of the Black & Gold yearbook. She received the D.A.R. Good Citizenship Award and the Campbell Trophy for Scholastic excellence and leadership. She was an alumnus of the class of ’47 of Eastern Nazarene College and received the Brown University extension division diploma in 1996. She was a member of Westminster Unitarian Church in Rhode Island and a member of Unity in the Pines in West Palm Beach, Fla.

She leaves her loving sister, Fay A. (Eddy) Dyer of Warwick. She is also survived by nieces Helen Antonizio, Dorothy Fryer and Frances Suita of Rhode Island, Susan Barnes and Laural Moseley of Georgia and Bunny Lancaster of Virginia; nephews John Eddy of Georgia, Thomas Dyer of Iowa and John Dyer and James Dyer of Rhode Island; stepdaughters Elaine Bowman and Kathleen Wood; and two grandchildren of Florida.
She was the sister of the late Clifford M. Eddy of Macon, Georgia.

A funeral service will be held May 26 at 12 noon at Carpenter-Jenks Funeral Home & Crematory, 659 East Greenwich Ave., West Warwick. Interment will follow in Swan Point Cemetery. Visitation will be May 26 from 11 a.m.-12 noon prior to service. Information and condolences available at www.carpenterjenks.com.