Ruth Howard Eckert

Ruth Mae Howard Eckert, 91, of Bowie, Maryland, and Ft. Myers, Florida, died April 4, 2019 at Harmony Hall Assisted Living Center in Columbia, Maryland, surrounded by family.The youngest of seven children, she was born to George and Edith Howard in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and grew up on their dairy farm in nearby Dousman.Even as a child, Ruthie wanted to be a writer. She wrote her first poem, which was broadcast on the radio, at the age of four. Ruthie was the first of her family to go to a four-year college, graduating from Whitewater State Teachers College with a major in elementary education. She taught for 11 years, first in Wisconsin and later in California, where she met her future husband, Robert E. Eckert, a naval officer studying at the Defense Language Institute. They moved to Bowie, Maryland, where Ruthie continued to write, getting her essays, short stories, and poems published in local magazines. She was a member of the National League of American Pen Women.One of her mentors, the novelist Mari Sandoz, advised her that a story she had written about one of her brothers, a P-38 pilot who died in World War II, would work better as a novel. After the children moved out, she heeded that advice and wrote Thomas, the Favored Son. While finishing the manuscript, she had a brain aneurysm, which left her legally blind and partially paralyzed. Her husband helped her prepare the book for publication.They retired to Ft. Myers, Florida, where they lived until her husband died in 2008. Six months later, she had a massive stroke and was brought back to Maryland, where she could be close to family.They were faithful members of St. James Episcopal Church in Bowie and St. Hilary's Episcopal Church in Ft. Myers. She is survived by her three children - Mark H. Eckert (Ling-Jing), Kim E. Eckert Goering, and Paul R. Eckert (Deborah) - and seven grandchildren - Peter and Alex Eckert, Sienna and Aislinn Goering, and Charles, Graham, and Blakely Eckert.Her memorial service will be held on Friday, April 26th at 1:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 4001 Franklin St., Kensington, MD 20895