Community bids farewell to Ruth Greene

PINE PLAINS — A full and joyful life as a homemaker behind her, Ruth Greene, 99, died Feb. 20

Greene was born Ruth Shaffer on March 27, 1908, in North East. She married John Greene in 1927 in Amenia. They were together 34 years before he died in 1961. After his death, Greene continued to raise her two daughters and two sons in the best way she knew how. She continued to provide love and support to her family throughout her long life, said family members.

"I guess it was good for all of us to have a matriarch of the family, to keep us straight for so many years," daughter Sandy Greene said. "My father was killed in ‘61 on the job, and she really was the one who was there for the family all along."

"Ruth, she was due to turn 100 this year, and I have known her all my life," town Supervisor Gregg Pulver said. "My father has known her just about all of his life. She was a long-term resident of the town of Pine Plains and a lovely person. She was very active and really community-oriented. She really led an exemplary life for her time."

Greene was a member of the Pine Plains Grange for almost 80 years. She was also a member of the Pine Plains Chapter of Eastern Star and a member of the First Presbyterian Women’s Association of the church.

"Those were the three things that she was really involved in," Sandy Greene said. "The grange was her first passion, when she was younger especially."

Despite a busy schedule, much of it working on the family’s dairy farm, her daughter remembered time was always made for the children.

"My mother always took us to everything," she said. "Whether it was baseball, band concerts, or what-not. School was at the center of our activities, in rural areas that’s how it was.

"I think probably the thing I will remember the best is the fact that we grew up and didn’t have a lot of money, but she found the money to put me through school," Sandy Greene said. "I went to Hartwick College. I don’t know how she did that but it was important enough for her to do and she did."

Greene is survived by her four children: Sandy Greene of Hanover, Pa., Joan Smith of Pine Plains, John Greene of Mannsville, N.Y., and Robert Greene of Palmyra, Pa. She is also survived by many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

"If there was somebody in the family or outside of the family, if there was a need for something, she would step in without a whole lot of fuss or expectation of gratitude. She would just do what needs to be done," Sandy Greene said. "That’s certainly the thing I feel most strongly about. When you grow up on a farm like that there’s so much to do anyway, any additional responsibility is a task, but she did them, and did them with grace."