Thursday, June 27, 2013

Honoring Ruth Maxwell

From Gail Martini-Peterson:







Longtime children's writer Ruth Maxwell has moved into a West Seattle nursing home. She requests no visitors, just her family. Ruth has fought cancer for several years including surgery and chemotherapy, but always with good humor and the support of friends and her church. She was born in Wisconsin, site of her last novel, The Peshtigo Greenhorn, which she dedicated to her late son Doug (purchased at https://www.createspace.com/4324931). She lived in California, where she wrote while raising her children. She was a critique partner to Eve Bunting in those early days around the time SCBWI was founded. Ruth had lots of stories published in Highlights and other magazines, but after a divorce, she needed time to raise her children and go to school. She continued to go to school and ended up with a Bachelor's degree in child welfare, a Master's degree in special education, and a Doctorate in education.
During her working life she developed an educational curriculum that is still being used in California. She has been earning royalties on it for a long time, but recently gave it to California schools.

Since retirement, Ruth has lived in West Seattle and has been writing. Shortly after joining the local SCBWI chapter, she had a middle-grade historical novel, Eighteen Roses Red: A Young Girl's Heroic Mission in the Revolutionary War, published (2006) by White Mane Kids. She self-published Suicide:Living With the Question in March 2012 to share what she learned following her son's suicide (both can be purchased on Amazon). 

In recent years when she was healthy enough, she kept a blog mainly for her children, grandkids, and great-grands (as she called them). Everyone can read those memories, thoughts, and experiences from Ruth's long and productive life at http://rhmaxwell2.blogspot.com/  They are well worth the read. Her last entry was on June 7 of this month.

If you'd like to send a card, please address it to: Ruth Maxwell, The Kenney, 7125 Fauntleroy Way SW, Seattle, WA 98136.

No comments: