Ruth Pittman

“I will never forget the warm spirit with which Ruth welcomed and encouraged me, my art and my music at High Mowing.” “I really loved Ruth as an art teacher; she freed my soul after it had been squelched at another school.” “The way she encouraged our creative endeavors was the gift of a lifetime…and one that continues on because of her.” “She gave us creative freedom, and a space for laughter and fun.” This beloved artist, High Mowing and Well School arts teacher passed away quite suddenly and peacefully on July 19th 2011, after a short bout with pneumonia. August third was her 83rd birthday. Ruth Haven Stetson Pittman was born in a farmhouse in Jefferson, Maine near the shores of Damariscotta Lake, where her parents designed, built and presided over Sunset Lodge and Camps for many years, and she grew up both there and in Newcastle, Maine, where she graduated from Lincoln Academy as class valedictorian. The ocean at nearby Pemaquid Point was one of her favorite places in the world. Always loving making things, and color and form, Ruth knew that she was an artist from an early age. She went on to study art and win awards at Colby College, and later marry, have children, and live in New York City, Italy, and Connecticut. Her first marriage ended in divorce. She went on to study art education at Southern Connecticut State Teachers’ College. There she met an extraordinary professor and mentor who was also an anthroposophist, who recognized and encouraged her wonderful innate abilities for teaching art to all ages, and who first introduced her to principles of Waldorf education. Beginning in the early sixties, Ruth held her first art teaching position, serving all of the grades, K-12, in the smallest public school system in Connecticut (400 students). She loved that job as well as the very interesting, small and beautiful town of Washington, where she and her two daughters, Liz and Susan, got to know many fascinating people, including the painter and writer Robert Jay Wolff, his wife, artist Elizabeth Wolff, and their son Guy, who soon was off to boarding school in Wilton, NH! During vacations, Guy would visit and tell amazing stories about his new school. Within a year or two, Ruth decided to drive up to see this place for herself, and discovered an immediate and deep connection with the school, the people, and the remarkable headmistress Mrs. Beulah Emmet , who hired her then and there, and so Ruth started in the H.M.S. painting studio in 1968. During the previous summer, she had attended a workshop at Threefold Farm in Spring Valley, N.Y. and met the eurythmist Sabina Nordoff, which began a long and fast friendship. In the fall, she met Mrs. Isobel Karl, (extraordinary person and potter), who also became a close and lifelong friend and inspiration. And, as destiny would have it, at High Mowing she met and soon married the love of her life, Robert Pittman, who at the time was dean of the school, head of maintenance, and the chorus and math teacher-and the father of two sons, Geoffrey and Alexis--which then added up to a family of six, all eventually attending High Mowing in some fashion (as well as five of the subsequent grandchildren-Akira Thompson, Nikolai Thompson, Galen Dickstein, Laura Kate Dickstein, and Chloe Pittman. Emelia Prince Ruyle attended Nyack High School in New York). From the beginning, Ruth was a much-adored teacher, friend, and advisor to countless students, both at High Mowing and at the Well School in Peterborough, where she also taught very happily alongside the brilliant Toni and Jay Garland, for a number of years in the 70s and early 80s. Ruth was a champion of all the arts. Many remember vividly the wonderful theater backdrops that she would stay up night after night painting for glorious High Mowing May Day and Well School productions, and her passion for all kinds of music and dance, poetry and eurythmy, and her enthusiastic presence at performances of all sorts. She really loved her students-- and especially teenagers-- and “got a kick out of” them, enjoying spending long hours after school with them in the High Mowing studio, secretly feeding them occasional treats and chocolate, helping with creating block books and projects, as well as prints, batiks, and paintings. She adored animals and was captivated by the sensitive paintings of Franz Marc in particular. In her modern artistic pantheon, Cezanne and Matisse were the kings. She also especially loved ancient Chinese painting, Native American art, and everything Italian. For a number of summers in the 1980s, Ruth also housed, admired, befriended, and fed delicious home-cooked meals to many Monadnock Musicians, and was a lifelong supporter and great fan of Monadnock Music. Many, many former students and friends have already written to share their warm and vivid memories of Ruth, often referring to her spontaneous laughter and most often describing her with the words “amazing,” ”inspiring,” and “kind.” Needless to say, we miss her very much! She is survived by her two daughters, Susan Prince Thompson and Liz Prince, and her sons-in-law, George Thompson and Bill Ruyle, her two stepsons, Geoffrey and Alexis Pittman, and her daughter-in-law Helen Dalbeck, as well as five grandchildren,; Akira Thompson, Galen Dickstein, Nikolai Thompson, Laura Kate Dickstein, Emelia Prince Ruyle, and Chloe Pittman. A memorial service will take place in the chapel at High Mowing School, 222 Isaac Frye Highway in Wilton, on Sunday, September 18th, at two o’clock.