Ruth Dudgeon Adams

Ruth Dudgeon Adams, 94, died on March 22, 2009 at Woodland Terrace, a Senior Living facility in Cary NC. Ruth, the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries, Dr. Winfield Scott Dudgeon and Grace Evans Dudgeon, was born in 1915 in Allahabad, India. In her early teens, she trekked the Himalayas with her botanist father finding unrecorded species of plants. While he wrote their botanical descriptions, Ruth drew their leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds for his records. Thus began a lifetime love of nature and art which she generously shared with students, family and friends. She graduated from Woodstock School in Missouri, India, at age 16, returning to Iowa for college. In 1936, she graduated from Iowa State University in Landscape Architecture and married Dr. J. Alfred Adams from Ventnor, Ontario, an instructor in Zoology at ISU. In 1943, Ruth and Alfred moved to Poughkeepsie NY, where she later earned a Masters of Education from SUNY New Paltz. She taught 5th grade in Hyde Park, where she also served on the town’s beautification, planning and zoning committees. Ruth and Alfred were co-founders of the Unitarian Fellowship in Poughkeepsie and she served as president, director of religious education, and landscaper. She was also active in ERVK, the organization that re-acquired and restored Eleanor Roosevelt’s home, Val-Kill, in Hyde Park. She and Alfred were central in the preservation and support of Slabsides, naturalist John Burroughs’ cabin and sanctuary in West Park NY. They retired to Cary in 1986 to be near family. Alfred died suddenly in 1988 leaving Ruth with 20 more years of active living. From 1988 to 2001, Ruth returned to her earlier interest in botanical art. In this later period she produced more than 100 botanically accurate and dramatically beautiful paintings of her favorite plants and flowers. Ruth also continued to contribute to all around her. She was on the building committee of the U/U Fellowship of Raleigh, and was the designer and developer of the UUFR grounds and Memorial Garden. Her brightness, competence, compassion, desire to help and teach, and artistic style uplifted all who knew her. She made significant differences in many thousands of lives. Ruth was predeceased by her parents; by her brother, Robert, who died in childhood; by her sister, Mary Jecker, who lived in Seguin TX; and by her husband Alfred. She was a mother of 3, grandmother of 12, and great-grandmother of 13. She also was an active aunt and great-aunt to Mary’s family in Texas. She is survived by son Gordon Dudgeon Adams and wife, Anita Fisk, of Seattle; son Donald Winfield Adams and wife, Jo Ann Adams, of Cary; and daughter, Carolyn Adams Garcia, of Pleasant Hill OR. Ruth’s grandchildren are: Steve Adams of Apex NC; Ben Adams of Oslo, Norway; Sunshine Kesey of Eugene OR; Annabelle Garcia of Pleasant Hill OR; Dana Williams Martinolich of Seymour TN; Danise Williams Hobson of Cary NC; Wendy Williams Partin of Cary NC; Abra Adams Greene of Seattle WA; Trixie Garcia of Oakland CA; Deborah Adams Tiger of Fayetteville NC; Alex West of Seattle WA; and Spencer Adams of Seattle WA. Ruth died peacefully of a long slow Alzheimer’s drift to a quiet end. She was loving, warm, helpful, and gracious throughout, even in her last weeks. The family expresses deep gratitude to the staff of Woodland Terrace for loving her in the same way we did and to Hospice of Wake County for lifting our burden and guiding us to a painless and natural repose. Ruth’s family and friends are invited to a memorial service and reunion beginning at 3 pm, Sunday April 26 at the UUFR, 3313 Wade Avenue, Raleigh. Memorial gifts may be made for the Memorial Garden at UUFR or to Hospice of Wake County. Condolences may be sent through www.brownwynne.com