Ruth Elizabeth Lawrence

Ruth Elizabeth Lawrence, age 76 died July 30, 2017, in Morrisville, VT. She was the widow of the Reverend Thomas Ahlburn.

Ruth grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and attended Connecticut College, where she majored in English. She was hired by the Providence Public Library as a children’s librarian and earned her Masters in Library Science. She remained a librarian throughout her professional life, mostly in the Woonsocket, Rhode Island school system. She and her husband collected a personal library of over 10,000 titles, which included religion, poetry, biblical archeology, zoology, and astronomy. They read every book.

While living in Rhode Island, they spent their summers in Vermont, where they bought some land and built a cabin. They spent two months every summer there for 20 years. They loved the peaceful life, grew a lot of their food, cooked on a 2-burner Coleman stove, hauled water, and used kerosene lanterns.

Ruth’s home was filled with animals in need, many of which were brought in by her elementary school. Over the years, she cared for a three-legged dog, goats, a squirrel, geese, a starling, a blue jay and an ancient box turtle named Gino.

Tom and Ruth retired to Greensboro in 2000. After Tom died in 2002, Ruth invented a new life for herself in Greensboro. She was active with the Greensboro Free Library and her many new friends became a family. She moved to the Craftsbury Community Care Center several years ago, and was happy there.

Ruth is survived by her stepdaughters, Heather Emerick and Megan Ahlburn, her son-in-law, Donny Emerick and her grandchildren Winnie, Charlotte and Phoebe Emerick. She is also survived by her sisters Marjorie Seabury and Virginia Buttrum and their children.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Craftsbury Community Care Center, 1784 E. Craftsbury Road, Craftsbury, VT 05827, or the Greensboro Free Library, 53 E. Craftsbury Road, Greensboro, VT 05841.