Ruth B. MacLean

June 30, 1919 - July 15, 2018

COLEBROOK – Ruth B. MacLean, 99, died peacefully at the home of her caregiver in Colebrook on Sunday, July 15, 2018, after a long period of failing health. She was born Ruth Elizabeth Berry on June 30, 1919, in Fayette, Me., a daughter to the late Bertha (Tuttle) Berry and Isaac Berry. At the age of two, her family moved to Wayne, Me., after a fire destroyed their homestead. She attended the Wayne village schools through grade 8 and then she attended Livermore Falls High School, graduating as valedictorian of her class in 1937. Ruth then attended Farmington State College and received her degree as an elementary school teacher. Ruth’s first teaching job was at the Church School in Columbia, a very rural school with 8 grades. After 3 years teaching there, she became the 5th grade teacher at Colebrook Elementary School for the next fifteen years. In 1960, Ruth became the principal of the Colebrook Elementary School until retiring in 1987 after a total of forty-seven years of teaching and ushering three generations of local families through their elementary grades. She was always involved in the community, as well. Ruth was one of the local leaders of the Girl Scouts and Brownies during her teaching years and after retirement as well. She participated in the elementary school’s volunteer reading program for grades 4 and 5 for many years, and she was a member of the Colebrook Historical Society, a member and past-president of the Metallak Retired Teachers’ Association, as well as the NH Retired Teachers Association and the Colebrook Garden Club. She was also a member of the Trinity United Methodist Church. Ruth was one of the first people honored on Colebrook Elementary School’s Recognition Wall as being one who played an important role in the school over the years. She will be remembered by her many friends and family as loving to share stories with her former students, even well into her 90s. She also loved to garden and to pick blueberries to share with her friends and neighbors. She is survived by her only son, David MacLean and wife Deborah of Columbia; a granddaughter, Victoria and her husband, Shawn Cote, of Millsfield; two step-grandsons, Corey Mason and wife Jamie, and Bryan Mason and his companion Melinda of Groveton; six great-grandchildren; as well as countless friends, nieces and nephews. There are no public calling hours. A memorial service will be held on Monday, July 23, 2018, at 11 a.m. at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Colebrook, with interment to immediately follow at the Colebrook Village Cemetery. Expressions of sympathy in Ruth’s memory may be made to the Trinity United Methodist Church, 28 Bridge St., Colebrook, NH 03576. Condolences may be offered to the family on-line by going to www.jenkinsnewman.com. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home in Colebrook.