BRADENTON, Fla. – Ruth Margaret Murch Gilpatrick Lane, 79, of Tara Golf and Country Club, Bradenton, Fla., passed away peacefully Sept. 13, 2011, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Ruth was born Jan. 4, 1932, in Augusta, and except for short residences in Sarasota, Fla., and Houlton, lived there until 1984.
Ruth then moved to Kennebunk for 25 years, retired to Cobbosseecontee Lake in East Winthrop, and in 2001 became a resident of Bradenton, Fla. Ruth graduated from Cony High School, class of 1950, and attended Husson College. In early years she summered on her beloved Cobboseecontee Lake and Pemaquid Point. She was a waterfront director at Camp KV and Camp T-Ledge. Ruth worked as state manager for Beacon Way Fabrics, as children’s department manager at Sears Roebuck and then for more than 25 years was a realtor with The Lane Associates earning professional designations GRI and CRS. Ruth built and sold more than 30 single family homes with her first husband Waldo E. Gilpatrick and then with her husband, John W. Lane Jr. She was a member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and sang as a soprano with the choir. Ruth was a member of the Augusta Players. She was a noted artist. Ruth helped complete a Tozier family history to pre-Revolutionary war origins.
She was predeceased by her father, Charles S. Murch; mother, Asenath Tozier Murch; and her brothers, John R. Murch, D.D.S., and Charles Edward Murch. She is survived by her husband, John W. Lane Jr. of Bradenton, Fla.; her four children, Sharon G. Morrill and husband, Leigh, of Damariscotta Mills, Robin G. Thomas of South Portland, Thomas E. Gilpatrick and wife, Jeanne, of Bar Harbor and Lynn G. Bernier and husband, Bruce, of Allentown, Pa.; seven grandchildren, one great-grandson, three stepchildren and three stepgrandchildren.
A memorial reception will be held in the Augusta area in early November. In lieu of flowers, Ruth expressed her wish that donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org.