Ruth Hart

Ruth L. Hart, 94, of Manahawkin passed away peacefully at home on April 29. For the past three years, she has been cared for at home by her husband and family under the guidance of Meridian Health and Meridian Hospice.

She is survived by her husband of 72 years, Phillip; three sons and their spouses, James and Terry, Paul and Eleanor, Timothy and Lorraine; and daughter Phyllis Buford and her husband Grant; eight grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; several cousins and many nieces and nephews. She was very proud that all four children graduated from college, the first generation of their extended families to do so. She is also survived by her younger brother, Ronald L. Hellman who lives in Idaho.

In 1940 Ruth graduated from Downers Grove High School in Illinois and started work at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric in Cicero, Illinois. She enlisted in the United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS) in 1943. She was assigned as an instructor in Atlantic City where she met her future husband, Phillip, who was also a member of the United States Coast Guard.

Ruth and Phil settled in Manahawkin in 1950. She worked with her husband to establish and run Phil Hart Electrical Contractor for 64 years. She did the bookwork, often drove to pick up materials and held the light for Phil to work at night as he began the business. They became deeply involved in the community. She advocated for the creation of what is now known as the Oxycocus School in 1951 and helped to organize its first library. She was a leader in the PTA at both Stafford Township and Southern Regional. She and her husband were instrumental in forming the first organized cub scouts and youth baseball league. In 1955, the Stafford Township Lions Club awarded Ruth and Phillip Hart the Outstanding Citizenship Award. She owned and operated her doll house store, known as Toad Hall, with her daughter Phyllis from 1974 to 1981. She and Phil were selected Grand Marshalls of the Stafford Township Founders’ Day parade in 1995 and she and the family in 2014.

Ruth was an accomplished seamstress and knitter belonging to a group of women known as the “NitWits.” She quietly and unassumingly helped others. She would help make dresses for young women who did not have other means and often anonymously made Christmas happen for families who could not.

A calling hour will be from 10 AM to 11 AM in the church vestibule and a Mass of Christian Burial will be on Friday, May 6 at 11:00 AM at St. Mary’s of the Pines, Bishop Lane in Manahawkin. Donations in her memory may be made to the Tuckerton Seaport, Box 52, Tuckerton, NJ 08087 or the Stafford Township Historical Society, Box 1097, Manahawkin, NJ 08050. Condolences may be sent to www.shinnfuneralhome.com

Thos. L. Shinn Funeral Home, 10 Hilliard Dr., Manahawkin was entrusted will the arrangements.