SOUTH PARIS – Ruby E. Edwards, 108, formerly of Buckfield, died Sunday, Feb. 13, at Ledgeview Living Center, where she had been a resident since 1988.
She was born in Weld, to Sherman and Daisy (Horn) Howard at the former Tom Skolfield homestead of Church Street, on Dec. 14, 1896. She attended schools in Weld in her early years, then in the basement of Sumner Houghton’s Store, and later she attended Weld High School.
She married Lewis Fish at the age of 24, in East Wilton. During her marriage to Lewis Fish, they lived in Farmington, Gorham, N.H., Massachusetts, then in New York, before returning to Maine. She later married Alton Edwards, and they lived in Hartford, East Sumner, and Buckfield, until his death on Oct. 15, 1974.
She had many jobs during her lifetime, including working at the Normal School in Farmington in housekeeping, at the Chester Greenwood factory, at home manufacturing her famous earmuffs by hand; at the Stoddard House in Farmington in the kitchen, at Bates Manufacturing in Lewiston, Bates College, the Chapel Hotel in Lewiston, and the Children’s Home of Auburn.
She enjoyed doing her “handy work,” such as tatting, knitting, and crocheting, and was remembered for her afghans, pillowcases, and sweaters. She also enjoyed crossword puzzles, her pets, and her birds. She told stories about her pet skunk and pet raccoon, her parakeets, cats, and taking her German sheperd dogs to the Fryeburg Fair where the family dog performed, probably in the early 1930s.
She is survived by her five children, Harry Fish and his wife, Eleanor, of Weld, Ruth (Betty) Vallee of Rumford, William Fish and his wife, Bonnie, of Swanton, Vt., Thomas Fish and his wife, Mary, of Auburn, and Muriel (Judy) Sawyer and her husband, Frank, of Lewiston; 18 grandchildren and stepgrandchildren; many great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her husband, Alton Edwards; her daughter, Shirley Russell of Rumford; her parents; her brother, Nelson Howard; her sister, Annie Hahn; and a granddaughter.
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