1931 – 2013

AUBURN — Ruth Ellicott Caton, 81, passed away following a short illness at the Hospice House in Auburn on July 28, where she had been a patient for the past 10 days.

She was born on Oct. 21, 1931, in Montpelier,Vt., the daughter of Charles Jr. and Marion (Hill) Ellicott. She graduated from Phillips High School in the Class of 1949. In 1949, she married Amos Caton in Auburn and he died in 2003.

Ruth worked at various jobs, settling on banking, where she retired in 1989 as vice president at Franklin Savings Bank. On Nov. 25, 2005, she married Virgil Sampson in Farmington.

She was a member of the Phillips Assembly No. 8 Order of the Rainbow for Girls. She enjoyed cooking, knitting, counted cross stitch, quilting, basket-making, fly fishing, traveling, spending time with family and was an avid Red Sox fan. Ruth also enjoyed teaching crafts and collecting Hummels, and won a national prize for her cross stitched Hummel quilt.

She is survived by her husband, Virgil Sampson, of Farmington; her son, Craig Caton and wife, Barbara, of Grafton, Mass.; her daughter, Karen Caton-Locke and husband, James, of Chesterville; her sisters, Dorothy Haggan of Phillips and Lucie Bridges of North Anson; her sister in-law, Jane Ellicott; her stepson, Rob Sampson and wife, Debbie, of Buxton; her stepdaughters, Terry Brown and husband, Tom, of Rochester, N.Y., and Dawn DeMarra and husband, Dean, of DeFuniak, Fla.; and many nieces, nephews, step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her first husband, Amos Caton; her brother, Charles Ellicott III; and her niece and nephew, Deborah and Daniel.