| Notes |
- The Daily Item (Sunbury, PA)
May 20, 2014
— MIFFLINBURG — Ruth (Crispen) Holman, 94, formerly of 1165 Grand Valley Road since 1959, entered into rest at 6:42 a.m. Tuesday, May 20, 2014.
Ruth was born on April 26, 1920, near Turbotville, the much-loved only child of Helen (Derr) Crispen and Harris H. Crispen. She was raised on the family farm and attended Turbotville High School, graduating as valedictorian of her class in 1937.
Upon graduation from high school, Ruth enrolled at Mansfield University and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in education (home economics) in 1941.Her first job as a teacher was at the Watsontown High School, where she taught home economics and chemistry from 1942 to 1947.
On June 14, 1947, in Turbotville Lutheran Church, Ruth married Robert "Bob" Holman, also a teacher, after which they moved to Johnstown and taught at the Westmont Hilltop High School from 1948 to 1953. In 1954, they took teaching jobs at the Mifflinburg High School, and that is the community where they spent the next 64 years together. Ruth taught home economics in the Mifflinburg High School from 1954 to 1956 and stepped down from teaching in 1957 after the birth of their first son to devote her time to being a full-time homemaker.
During her middle-aged years, Ruth was a very busy person: a devoted lifelong Christian and member of the Methodist church and a supportive, loving wife and mother for the many interests that her spouse and sons were involved with. She was a member of numerous service organizations, the Athenaeum club and bridge club, loved music and singing and was a longtime member of the Buffalo Valley Singers and the church choir. Ruth loved gardening, reading and sewing and making her own clothing and things for her family and friends. She had an appreciation for art and culture and enjoyed entertaining family and friends at their home in rural Mifflinburg. In 1973, Ruth received the Citizen of the Year Award for outstanding leadership in environmental concerns for her involvement with founding and running Mifflinburg's recycling distribution program from 1969 to 1973.
Ruth went back to work outside of the home in 1978 once her two sons were in college and assisted a ninth-grade boy, Troy Bowersox, who had lost his hearing from spinal meningitis, and helped him to achieve academic success through her strength and determination, as Troy eloquently described in his commencement address in 1980.
Ruth retired again in 1980 from the school district, and her "golden years" were spent traveling with her husband, Bob, and their friends to all part of the United States and abroad, including Australia, the Amazon River in South America, Canada and most of the western states in the U.S., spending time with her grandson, Sam, and taking day trips with close friends.
Her legacy will be that of a wonderful, kind, honest, quiet, determined and interesting person who put God and her family and loved ones first and who strived for perfection in herself and encouraged others. Her final year of life was spent at the RiverWoods Nursing Facility.
Ruth's husband, Bob, passed away on May 20, 2011.
Surviving are two sons and daughters-in-law, Mark E. and Debra J. Holman and Dr. David C. and Michele R. Holman, all of Mifflinburg; and one grandson, Samuel M. Holman, of Mifflinburg.
|
1920 - 2014 (94 years)
[1, 2, 3] 
