Ruth Underhill

UNDERHILL, Ruth December 8, 1929 - January 10, 2020 Mary Ruth Underhill (née Rice) was born in 1929, the second of four children, to a farming family who homesteaded outside Ardrossan Alberta, east of Edmonton. As a child, Ruth helped out with chores such as milking the cows and accompanying her father on the Saturday egg run to Edmonton. She was an enthusiastic athlete and subbed for her brother Hillis at first base. She was talented musically and took piano lessons. She often played and accompanied at church and expanded her repertoire at home to best loved parlour songs. Ruth undertook teacher training at the University of Alberta following high school, and upon graduation, was immediately hired to teach grades one to six in a challenging one-room school near her family home. While singing in the U of A choir, she met her life partner Reg Underhill, a veteran who was studying engineering. They were married in 1950, and thus began an eventful period of raising a family of three children, and living and moving to various parts of the west including Medicine Hat, Regina, Brandon, Edmonton, and finally in 1965, Victoria. The family home in Saanich was well cared for and Ruth and Reg lived there more than fifty years. Ruth was an accomplished and industrious gardener who planted many varieties from seeds, and a gifted and faithful mother who maintained lifelong interest in her children's and grandchildren's activities. While in Victoria, Ruth volunteered as a youth group and choir leader at St. Luke's Anglican Church where countless children benefitted from making crafts and singing in the junior choir under Ruth's leadership. Ruth and Reg were an inseparable duo, and with Reg's passing a month ago, it is perhaps unsurprising that Ruth has now gone as well, but not before celebrating her 90th birthday recently. She is survived by her children: Arthur (Lenore), Owen (Wanda), and Janet; and her grandchildren, Adrian (Nicole), Sophia (Jamie), and her little granddaughter Alynne. She is also remembered by her sister Frances (Percy), and was predeceased by her brothers Hillis and Lyall. The family would like to thank Dr. Robert Shepherd and Dr. Katherine McKeen as well as the Parkwood Court Staff for their care of Ruth. A Celebration of Life will be held on January 24, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. at St John the Baptist Heritage Church, 537 Glen Cairn Lane, Victoria, BC. No flowers by request. Donations may be made to a charity of your choice.