Ruth Marie Powell

Ruth Marie Wiesner Powell, 100, of East Hartford, Connecticut and St. Pete Beach, Florida, died peacefully at home on November 12, 2018. Born at home in East Hartford on February 3, 1918, to Rudolph Wiesner and Esther Svensson Wiesner, Ruth was predeceased by her brothers and sisters: Rudolph, Benjamin, Margaret, Dorothy, Paul, Miriam and Betty. After graduating in 1936 from East Hartford High School, Ruth pursued music related employment until World War II, when she joined the Women’s Army Corp to learn wartime mechanics to support the war effort. On Christmas Day, 1942, she married Harold (Hap) Powell and then devoted her life, full time, to her greatest passions: being a wife and mother of three children and creating a home for her family.

She and Hap built a house next to her parents and sisters which afforded her children the support of a great extended family while growing up. Ruth fully embraced being a wife and mother by becoming an excellent cook, baker, Cub Scout Den Mother, Brownie and Girl Scout Leader, Camp Counselor, and PTA President. She and Hap stressed the importance of higher education which each of their children pursued as well as embracing people of all races, religions and sexual preferences. Ruth was a life-long member of the First Congregational Church in East Hartford, where she was a choir member and Church Secretary for many years. She and Hap also joined an Ecumenical Group which consisted of gatherings with members of different faiths and interests. Many of these members became life-long friends.

Ruth’s many interests and talents included an ability to play the piano by ear as well as with sheet music. She urged her children to pursue piano and instrumental lessons, as well. Ruth was a gardener, seamstress, decorator, avid reader, crossword puzzle solver and frequent participator in adult education courses in areas such as learning a new language, arts and crafts, poetry and literature.

When their children became high school and college age, Ruth and Hap became world travelers, an activity their children eagerly pursued in their lives as well. She and Hap initially traveled on their own and later became involved in the Friendship Force, a President Jimmy Carter foreign exchange program, as Ambassadors traveling to Europe, Asia and Israel. They also hosted Friendship Force members from Europe in their home.

In their later years, they spent their winters in their home in Pass-A-Grille on St. Pete Beach and their summers in East Hartford. They relished spending time with family and friends in both locations. After Hap died in 2011, Ruth remained in their home in East Hartford with the excellent help and dedication of her family, friends and her caregivers.

Ruth leaves her beloved children, Lynn E. Powell and husband Lee Conway of Glastonbury; Jill Powell Mautner and husband Robert Mautner III of St. Augustine, Florida; daughter-in-law Kathy Powell Schirmacher; five step-grandchildren, 9 step-great grandchildren and one step great-great grandchild, and many nieces, nephews and friends . She was predeceased by her son Philip E. Powell of New York City and Glastonbury.

The family would like to thank her caregivers, Jacqueline Clennon and Johnae Morrison, and Monica Ross of the Hospice Team for their excellent care and support.

Donations in Ruth’s name can be made to the First Congregational Church-East Hartford Public Schools-Notre Dame Mission Volunteers Urban Educational Program (837 Main St. East Hartford, Conn. 06108, or the Visiting Nurse and Health Services Hospice Team of Connecticut, 8 Keynote Dr., Vernon, Conn. 06066.

Ruth’s family will receive family and friends Monday, November 26, 2018 from 5PM—8PM at Newkirk and Whitney Funeral Home, 318 Burnside Ave., East Hartford, CT. Family and friends are invited to her Funeral Service on Tuesday, November 27, 2018 at 11 AM at Newkirk and Whitney.