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This profile was automatically generated using 3 references found on the Internet. This information has not been verified. Learn more...
This profile was automatically generated using 3 references found on the Internet. This information has not been verified. Learn more...
Web References
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1. belfast.villagesoup.com
belfast.villagesoup.com/announ - [Cached]Published on: 11/13/2003 Last Visited: 6/14/2004
Ruth Gregory Blethen
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Ruth Gregory Blethen
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ROCKLAND - Ruth Gregory Blethen, 87, died peacefully Saturday, June 12, 2004, after a brief illness at the home of her daughter in Hollis, surrounded by her family.
Born at Glen Cove in Rockport, she was the daughter of William W. and Lottie Oxton Gregory.
Educated in local schools, she was a graduate of Rockland High School, class of 1934 and a 1939 graduate of University of Maine at Orono June 22, 1944, she married John Blethen in Rockland.
During the early years of their marriage, Mrs. Blethen resided with her husband in Waterbury, VT and for 8 years in Myerstown, PA. They returned to Rockland in 1959. She taught school in Rockland, Fort Kent, Madison High School and at Thornton Academy in Saco.
A lifelong member of First Baptist Church of Rockland, for several years she was president of the Ladies Outreach and served 23 years as a volunteer clerk at the First Baptist Bookstore. She was a member of Friends of Rockland Public Library and Friends of Rockland Breakwater Light.
For many years she was an active board member of Knox County Community Concerts Association. Her lifelong passion was sailing. Throughout her life she went on 18 schooner cruises. Her first was in 1942 aboard the Mattie (now Grace Bailey) and since 1990 has included the Nathaniel Bowditch, Heritage and Victory Chimes.
On May 29, 2004 she sailed with family on the Isaac Evans cruise to benefit the Rockland Public Library. She also enjoyed skiing, traveling and walking to the Rockland Breakwater Light.
In later years and prior to her husband's death November 21, 2001, she enjoyed going out with a group of friend's known as the "Old Gang".
Mrs. Blethen is survived by two sons, William J. and his wife Susan of Falmouth, Rand J. of Miami; three daughters, Janice Cramer and her husband Lyle of Westbrook, Johnna B. Brazier of Dedham, Joyce A. Raychard and her husband Wayne of Hollis; her sister, Edna Rollins of Camden; nine grandchildren Brian and Bruce Cramer, J. Cressica and Shireen Brazier, Bethany, Gregory and Kara Raychard, Deven and Andrew Blethen as well as several nieces, nephews and cousins.
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Ruth Gregory Blethen -
2. rockland.villagesoup.com
rockland.villagesoup.com/annou - [Cached]Published on: 11/13/2003 Last Visited: 6/14/2004
Ruth Gregory Blethen
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Ruth Gregory Blethen
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ROCKLAND - Ruth Gregory Blethen, 87, died peacefully Saturday, June 12, 2004, after a brief illness at the home of her daughter in Hollis, surrounded by her family.
Born at Glen Cove in Rockport, she was the daughter of William W. and Lottie Oxton Gregory.
Educated in local schools, she was a graduate of Rockland High School, class of 1934 and a 1939 graduate of University of Maine at Orono June 22, 1944, she married John Blethen in Rockland.
During the early years of their marriage, Mrs. Blethen resided with her husband in Waterbury, VT and for 8 years in Myerstown, PA. They returned to Rockland in 1959. She taught school in Rockland, Fort Kent, Madison High School and at Thornton Academy in Saco.
A lifelong member of First Baptist Church of Rockland, for several years she was president of the Ladies Outreach and served 23 years as a volunteer clerk at the First Baptist Bookstore. She was a member of Friends of Rockland Public Library and Friends of Rockland Breakwater Light.
For many years she was an active board member of Knox County Community Concerts Association. Her lifelong passion was sailing. Throughout her life she went on 18 schooner cruises. Her first was in 1942 aboard the Mattie (now Grace Bailey) and since 1990 has included the Nathaniel Bowditch, Heritage and Victory Chimes.
On May 29, 2004 she sailed with family on the Isaac Evans cruise to benefit the Rockland Public Library. She also enjoyed skiing, traveling and walking to the Rockland Breakwater Light.
In later years and prior to her husband's death November 21, 2001, she enjoyed going out with a group of friend's known as the "Old Gang".
Mrs. Blethen is survived by two sons, William J. and his wife Susan of Falmouth, Rand J. of Miami; three daughters, Janice Cramer and her husband Lyle of Westbrook, Johnna B. Brazier of Dedham, Joyce A. Raychard and her husband Wayne of Hollis; her sister, Edna Rollins of Camden; nine grandchildren Brian and Bruce Cramer, J. Cressica and Shireen Brazier, Bethany, Gregory and Kara Raychard, Deven and Andrew Blethen as well as several nieces, nephews and cousins.
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Ruth Gregory Blethen -
3. rockland.k2bh.com
rockland.k2bh.com/Community/St - [Cached]Published on: 12/27/2003 Last Visited: 7/27/2004
(7/16) Ruth Blethen: A vivacious soul
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Ruth Blethen: A vivacious soul
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ROCKLAND (July 22, 2004): Most Monday mornings for the last several years Ruth Gregory Blethen would park her gold Chrysler PT Cruiser, put on a sweatshirt with the name of the schooner Nathaniel Bowditch on the front and walk to the end of Rockland breakwater. Once at the end she would wave goodbye to the schooners as they left for their weeklong sailing trips.
Mid-Coast Builders Alliance Advertisement
Ruth Blethen in 1943 aboard the schooner Mattie, now known as the Grace Bailey. (Image courtesy of Janice Cramer)
Blethen sailed on several Maine windjammers, beginning with her first ride in 1943 aboard the Mattie, now known as the Grace Bailey. She sailed regularly with Capt. Gib and Terry Philbrick who owned the Nathaniel Bowditch. Her last sail was May 29 aboard the Isaac H. Evans. She died two weeks later at the age of 87.
On Friday the Maine Windjammer Association hosted a parade of more than a dozen windjammers and several of them hoisted signal flags in honor of Blethen. Those flags spelled her name.
Blethen's grandfather, James Oxton, was a Rockland sea captain, which meant the sea was in her blood from the very beginning.
"Those days you had to bring your own bedroll," she once told her grandson, Brian Cramer, about sailing on the windjammers.
The windjammer fleet has evolved since those early days, and Blethen was there to see it all. In addition to being a regular guest aboard the Nathaniel Bowditch, she sailed on the Heritage and the Victory Chimes.
"She was such a good ambassador for us as well as the whole windjammer fleet," said Terry Philbrick.
The fleet remained dear to Blethen, who was also a member of the Friends of Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation that is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of Rockland's breakwater lighthouse. Like clockwork, Blethen would make her visit to the lighthouse and wave to the schooners as they left for their weekly trips.
Blethen's upbringing mirrored the ocean and her vivacious attraction to it. She was born at home in Glen Cove; the house is now the Ledges Motel.
"At the age of 7, she learned to drive on her father's lap," said Janice Cramer, Blethen's eldest daughter.
Blethen began racing small boats in Rockland Harbor as a teen and then headed off to college to obtain a teaching degree. She taught math in several Maine schools. Then in 1944 she married John Blethen of Rockland.
She and John started their family of five when she was 27; their last child was born when she was 45.
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Blethen on her last sail on the Isaac H. Evans. (Image courtesy of Janice Cramer)
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Blethen enjoyed traveling; she and her husband made two trips to Kenya where their daughter and family lived as missionaries.
"Being an older woman she was highly respected and got to go into homes where [my sister] was never invited," said Cramer.
Blethen's grandson, Brian Cramer, described her as the matriarch of the family. He said she was headstrong and her positive outlook on life was contagious.
Added Janice Cramer, "Ruth always had a smile and greeting for those she knew well and if she didn't know you she might choose to introduce herself."
Blethen was never one to shy from new experiences. When e-mail came out in the 1990s she was the first one in the family to get a computer. This allowed her to keep in close contact with her five children and nine grandchildren who lived around the world.
"She even used a webcam to talk with her grandson in Iraq," said Janice Cramer.
Blethen was a woman who was ahead of her time. She put family and friends first and took on life with a spirit full of love, laughter and amazement.
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(7/15) Parade of Sails spells Ruth
