1915 – 2004

NASHUA, N.H. – Ruth (Coan) Fulton, 88, of 319 East Dunstable Road, Nashua, N.H., formerly of Portland and Auburn, died Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Couville.

Born in Manchester, N.H., June 19, 1915, she was the daughter of the late Fred W. and Pearl I. (Knowles) Coan.

On Sept. 28, 1940, she married Robert W. Fulton in Manchester, N.H., son of William L. and Bessie (Marston) Fulton. They lived in Buffalo and Syracuse, N.Y., until 1945, when he was transferred to Portland, where they resided until 1990. They then moved to Schooner Estates in Auburn. Her husband died in 1992.

All their lives they were active in church work and she taught Sunday school in various church high school departments for over 25 years.

In 1967-1968 she was substitute instructor at the Boy’s Training Center in South Portland. In 1968, she joined the faculty of Andover College, Portland, as a teacher and became academic dean.

She wrote articles on education for various magazines and published several business education manuals, which she used in her classes and marketed.

Her memberships included many professional organizations, as well as the Portland College Club, Woman’s Literary Union, the Camp Fire Girls as sponsor and member of the board of directors and Woodfords Congregational Church, United Church of Christ.

Following her retirement, she published two genealogies on her family, the Coans and one on her husband’s family, the Fultons as well. During her retirement years, she and her husband spent their summers at their cottage at Great Pond, Belgrade Lakes.

She belonged to the Maine Historical Society, the Maine Old Cemetery Association as a life members, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Society of Mayflower Descendants.

She attended Manchester public schools and was Valedictorian of her class at Manchester Central High School. In 1936, she received a bachelor’s degree from Bates College, where she was a four-year member of the Chapel Choir, the Glee Club and the 4-A Players. She was also treasurer of Women’s Student Government, a dormitory proctor, an assistant in the English Department, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and later was elected to the Bates Key, now the College Key.

After graduating from Bates, she taught at Pembroke Academy in Pembroke, N.H., and at Edward Little High School in Auburn. The summer of 1937, she studied at Columbia University and from 1938 through 1940, she was social director at Bates College Summer School.

In 1975, she received a master’s degree in education from the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham, now the University of Southern Maine.

Survivors include a daughter, Pamela F. McLaughlin of Hudson, N.H.; two sons, David K. Fulton of Glenwood Springs, Colo., and Robert M. Fulton of New York City; four grandchildren; a nephew; and a niece.

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