Ruth O. Watkins, a resident of Wheaton for 54 years, passed away at her home on Saturday, November 20, 10 days before her 99th birthday. She was born in 1905 in Sioux City, Iowa.

Ruth and her sister, Naomi, Sang on the radio as teenagers; she attended college during the "Roaring Twenties" at Wayne State College in Nebraska and studied art 5 summers at the University of Colorado. She taught art through the thirties in small towns in Iowa; married a high school band director in 1940 and moved to Chicago: and came to Wheaton in 1950.

Tin the fifties, Ruth attended Pestalozzi Froebel Teachers College. She received her degree and taught art at various Wheaton area schools, and later 4th grade at Green Valley School in Lombard. She was an active member and officer of Delta Kappa Gamma honorary teachers' society, and a member of the Illinois Retired Teachers' Association. She sang for years with the Sweet Adelines; was active in the Du Page Power Squadron Deckmates; and a member of the Gary Methodist Church. She was a charter member of the Du Page Art League.

Her survivors include one daughter, Mrs. Jeannie Perry of Phillips, Wisconsin; her sister's daughter, Donna Shaver of Sioux City, Iowa and by Roscoe the cat.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years, James M. Watkins; her sister, Naomi of Sioux City; and her brother Gerald Burkhead of Longmont, CO.

Visitation will be held from 10 a.m until the time of a funeral service at 11:00 on Wednesday, December 1, at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St. in Wheaton, IL. A private graveside services will be held at Spring Valley Cemetery in Edmund, Wisconsin.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to A.D.O.P.T. Pet Shelter 420 Industrial Dr., Naperville, IL 60563 or Delta Kappa Gamma Scholarship Fund, c/o Ida Lee, 0N307 Wooddale Rd., Winfield, IL 60190