A hui hou Ruth M. Webb

Ruth M. Webb, of Lambertville, New Jersey, passed away on Sunday, June 18 at the Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, New Jersey. Ruth was a UH Mānoa library science alumna and worked as a reference librarian for the Kaimukī branch of the Hawaii State Public Library.

More on Webb

Born and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Ruth was the oldest of 7 children. Married in 1942, she came to New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1947 and lived in that community until 1963. The next four years took Ruth to the Caribbean and then to Greece. For two years she held the position of librarian at Anatolia College, an American school for Greek students in Thessaloniki. At the conclusion of her contract Ruth toured throughout Europe. Eventually she booked passage on a freighter that sailed from Marseilles, France through the Suez Canal, with ports of call in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and, finally, Japan.

Returning to the US, Ruth’s first stop was Hawai‘i. The unique climate, culture and people of the Islands captivated her and she settled in Honolulu where she made her home for the next 32 years. Ruth enrolled in graduate school at UH Mānoa and, in 1968, earned her master’s degree in library science. She became the reference librarian for the Kaimukī branch of the Hawaii State public library and retired in 1986.

In 1996 Ruth returned to the East Coast and resided in Lambertville for the next 21 years.  Her fascination with travel, books and people and her zest for living never left her.  She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

She was the wife of the late Stockton Webb, the mother of the late John Krick Fisher and the daughter of the late Eugene P. and Blanche MacDougall Rogers.

Ruth is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Christina Fisher Christensen and Timothy R. Smith of Lambertville; her grandsons Dorian Christensen and his wife Maura Erwin of Los Angeles, California and Nicholas Smith of Albany, New York and her great-grandson Jackson Shea-Fisher of Seattle, Washington.

A service to honor and remember Ruth will be held on Friday evening, July 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania.

University of Hawai‘i Alumni