1941
Ruth
2020
Ruth S. Roberts
November 13, 1941 — September 2, 2020
Ruth Sprow Roberts passed away on September 2, 2020 after an extended illness. She is survived by her husband Donald Allen Roberts and son Paul Allen Roberts as well as sisters Anne Petersen, Joan Ojerio, Sylvia Riddle and Lupe Wehr, and brother James Sprow. She is also survived by cousins Eugene Sprow, Nancy Stimson, Paula Scott and Amy Fox.
Other survivors include 18 beloved nieces and nephews and their families. She is predeceased by her parents Mary Alice and Earnest A Sprow who laid the cornerstones for a loving and cohesive family.
Ruth was born in Detroit Michigan on Nov 13, 1941. She grew up in the Spokane valley of Washington where she graduated from Central Valley High School. After graduation from Washington State University she taught mathematics, married in 1963 and moved to New York City where her husband was studying medicine. She found work as a computer programmer with Computer Usage, the first custom software company in the nation. She later worked as a systems engineer for IBM's Printing and Publishing division. During the year that Don served in Vietnam she returned to work for Computer Usage in San Francisco. She thoroughly enjoyed her time in these two vibrant cities.
The family moved to Salem in 1972 where she continued her academic career, receiving a Masters degree at Western Oregon University after which she worked with computer science students at Chemeketa Community College.
Her hobbies included reading, gardening, and quilting through which she developed many long term friendships. These friendships did much to support her through her illness
Her volunteer work began at Hillcrest School for Girls and continued at the Salem Art Association and the Assistance League, She later found her passion volunteering in the schools and helping in the preservation of the gardens at Historic Deepwood Estate. Her research into the work of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, the first women to establish a landscape architecture firm in the Northwest, helped lead to the founding of the Lord and Schryver Conservancy and the preservation of Gaiety Hollow.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Lord & Schryver Conservancy, PO Box 2755, Salem, OR 97308.
Other survivors include 18 beloved nieces and nephews and their families. She is predeceased by her parents Mary Alice and Earnest A Sprow who laid the cornerstones for a loving and cohesive family.
Ruth was born in Detroit Michigan on Nov 13, 1941. She grew up in the Spokane valley of Washington where she graduated from Central Valley High School. After graduation from Washington State University she taught mathematics, married in 1963 and moved to New York City where her husband was studying medicine. She found work as a computer programmer with Computer Usage, the first custom software company in the nation. She later worked as a systems engineer for IBM's Printing and Publishing division. During the year that Don served in Vietnam she returned to work for Computer Usage in San Francisco. She thoroughly enjoyed her time in these two vibrant cities.
The family moved to Salem in 1972 where she continued her academic career, receiving a Masters degree at Western Oregon University after which she worked with computer science students at Chemeketa Community College.
Her hobbies included reading, gardening, and quilting through which she developed many long term friendships. These friendships did much to support her through her illness
Her volunteer work began at Hillcrest School for Girls and continued at the Salem Art Association and the Assistance League, She later found her passion volunteering in the schools and helping in the preservation of the gardens at Historic Deepwood Estate. Her research into the work of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, the first women to establish a landscape architecture firm in the Northwest, helped lead to the founding of the Lord and Schryver Conservancy and the preservation of Gaiety Hollow.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Lord & Schryver Conservancy, PO Box 2755, Salem, OR 97308.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Ruth S. Roberts, please visit our flower store.
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