Ruth Hull Low, 89, Was Researcher and Writer

Ruth Hull Low died Feb. 13 at home in Chilmark. She was 89.

Ruth was born August 8, 1916, in Madison, Wis., the daughter of Dr. Clark Leonard Hull and Bertha Iutzi Hull.

She attended Yale Art School and Wisconsin University, the Art Students League, and was graduated from Columbia Teachers College. During the time when her family lived in Newtown, Conn., she wrote many feature articles for the Newtown Bee weekly newspaper as well as the Danbury paper.

After moving to South Norwalk, Conn., she became very interested in the preservation of the Norwalk Islands; in doing so, she compiled a trove of primary research on the early days of the islands which will be donated to the Norwalk Islands Historical Society.

She and her husband, Joseph Low, moved to St. John in the Virgin Islands in the late 1970s, spending November through April there for 25 years. During that time she researched the early days of St. John from the time the first Europeans lived there, which resulted in the publication of her book, St. John Backtime, based on primary research spanning the years 1718 to 1956. Her second book on the island, St. John Voices, will be published posthumously.

Ruth and her husband had lived in their home in Chilmark for the warmer six months of the year for the past 35 years. She always considered Chilmark and the Vineyard as God's country.

She was an annual volunteer for the West Tisbury library book sale and contributed feature articles to the Vineyard Gazette while working on her books. For many years she also contributed her time as a judge of needlework at the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair.

Her family is grateful to the nurses at the dialysis center of the Martha's Vineyard Hospital, to the Vineyard Nursing Association and to the staff and many volunteers of Hospice of Martha's Vineyard for the care and support extended to Ruth Low and her family.

She is survived by her husband, Joseph Low of Chilmark; her daughter, Jenni Oliver, and son in law, Edly Oliver, of Edgartown; her daughter, Damaris Botwick, and granddaughter, Fiona Botwick of New York. She was predeceased by her brother, Dr. Richard Hull of California.

A private celebration of her life was held on Squibnocket Beach on what would have been her 90th birthday. Family and close friends attended, flying kites and sharing in remembrances of her life.