DeSORGHER, Ruth Marian (Eckland), 96, July 23, 2020 of Medfield, wife of the late L. Lee DeSorgher Sr., daughter of the late Walter and Grace Eckland, sister of the late Dorothy Clemente, and Scylena Jones. Loving mother of Nancy L. Brown and her husband Spencer of Brewer, Maine, L. Lee DeSorgher Jr. and his wife Patricia Fuller of Holliston, Richard P. and his wife Julie of Mashpee, Eileen F. and her husband Brian Flynn of Medfield and the late baby Joan Marie. Also survived by 12 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
Ruth grew up in Depression Era Roxbury and Dorchester and attended Boston schools, receiving a double promotion, due to her high testing. She graduated at age 16 from the Jeremiah E. Burke High School and worked modeling clothing and in the payroll department for C. Crawford Hollidge in their downtown Boston flagship store. She met her future husband, Lee, at his father’s drug store in Dorchester, where he worked behind the counter and always gave her extra ice cream in her ice cream soda. After Pearl Harbor, Lee went into the Merchant Marines and in 1943, while home on leave, the two were married in St. Peters Church in Dorchester. After the war, in 1949, they moved from their house in Dorchester out to the “New Development” on 23 Summer Street in Medfield. Ruth would stay in Medfield for the next 71 years.
Ruth was active with the St. Edward Catholic Daughters and with the Medfield Bowling League and worked part time at the Medfield State Hospital, but she was first and foremost a fulltime mother with her four children. Breakfast, packed lunch and clean clothes were always ready when her children went off to school and she was always home to greet them when they returned. Supper was eaten together as a family and the formal Sunday dinner at 2:00 pm always took place no matter what else was going on. She sat supervising her children at the Medfield Swim Pond during the summer, helped as a cub scout den mother and brownie leader and attended her children’s sporting events. Ruth went to work at Barnes and Jones, later Vent-rite Valve, in Medfield in 1967 to help pay for her daughter Nancy’s wedding. She would stay there as assistant manager for the next 20 years. Ruth then went to work for Seddon Wylde at her North Street studio, helping with the making of the famous Wylde blankets, including the Medfield Blanket.
After the death of her husband Lee, Ruth left her Summer Street home in 1998 for Tilden Village where she lived for 22 years until her death. She was an active communicant at St. Edward Church and faithfully attended Saturday afternoon Mass, sitting in her “reserved” seat. She took much pride in the lives of her children and grandchildren and in welcoming her new sons and daughters-in-laws into the family, receiving great joy watching ‘her family” grow.
Funeral Mass will be at St. Edward Church, 133 Spring Street, Medfield at 11:30 am on July 31. Burial to follow at Vine Lake Cemetery. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, visiting hours will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Ruth’s memory would be appreciated being made to the Medfield Home Committee, 459 Main Street or to FOSI (Friends of Medfield Seniors, Inc.) c/o The Center, One Ice House Road, Medfield, MA 02052, where she spent much time playing cards and enjoying the company of her friends.
