Ruth Severance

Ruth Severance

ROCHESTER—Ruth Wilhelmina (von Essen) Severance, 93, died Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004, at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph.

The eldest daughter of Henry A. and Mabel E. (Whaley) von Essen, she was born Nov. 19, 1911, at Central Park (now Bethpage), Long Island, N.Y. She was raised on her parents’ truck farm and graduated from Amityville (N.Y.) High School in 1929. She attended Drake Business College and was subsequently employed as a secretary in New York City.

On Oct. 7, 1939, she was married to Cyrus Everett Severance at the Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church in Amityville by his father, the Reverend Cyrus W. Severance. The couple moved to a small farm on Jerusalem Hill in Rochester, where they lived until June 1944, when they returned to Long Island. After her husband’s service in the U.S. Navy, she and her family returned to Rochester in 1946.

She was a homemaker and mother until December 1961 when she was employed as secretary at the Rochester Office of the USDA Forest Service, retiring from that position in Dec. 1981. She was an active member of the Rochester Federated Church and enjoyed vocal music, observing nature, and gardening.

Despite suffering from macular degeneration in her later years, she was a voracious and eclectic reader. With the support of her children and neighbors, she continued to live at her Breakneck Hill residence in Rochester until July 2002, when she moved to Mayo Manor in Northfield.

She was predeceased by a brother, Leroy F. von Essen, in 1980, and by her husband "Cy" on Oct. 12, 1982.

Survivors include a sister, Florence T. (von Essen) Walters of Amityville, N.Y.; four children, Dolores Flack of Proctorsville, Cyrus W. Severance of East Thetford, Cheryl Foster of Cavendish, and Karl H. Severance of Girdwood, Alaska; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, Dec. 30, at 1 p.m. at the Rochester Federated Church, with the Rev. Dr. William Daniels officiating. Burial will follow at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Rochester. There are no calling hours.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the Rochester Federated Church, Rochester, Vt., 05767; or to the Valley Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 131, Rochester, Vt., 05767. Arrangements are by the Day Funeral Home of Randolph.

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