June 19, 1926 – March 13, 2024
Ruth Kyle Lewis was born in Gary, Ind., on June 19, 1926, to Emily Schoenfelt Kyle and Joseph Blair Kyle. She passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 13, 2024, at 97. She was predeceased by her husband, John Lewis, and siblings John, Virginia, and Joe.
Aunt Ruthie, as she was known, grew up in Gary and graduated from Indiana University (Bloomington) in 1949. She loved her post-college life living in Ogden Dunes, Ind., playing bridge and enjoying Lake Michigan for over a decade. Ruth eventually decided she wanted to teach art and returned to Bloomington in the early ‘60s to get her master’s degree. Her second stint at IU was another favorite chapter in her life, primarily because she lived in the graduate dorm and got to know people from all over the world.
She met John Lewis while they were both teaching at North Central High School in Indianapolis. They married in 1967 and moved into a small cottage on White River south of Keystone at the Crossing. In the mid-seventies, John and Ruth built a new house next door to the cottage (two teachers building a house by themselves?! What could go wrong?) from a kit and with the help of a carpenter friend. It would become their home for the rest of their lives. They loved living on the river (except when it flooded!) where they kept a nice flower and vegetable garden and enjoyed watching birds and wildlife. Many trips were taken to the White River Yacht Club in their pontoon boat to enjoy music, dancing, and drinking.
Ruthie had an encyclopedic knowledge of Kyle Family history and regularly regaled anyone willing to listen with stories of summer trips to Duncansville, Pa., with her little brother John. We still have a three-hour recording of Ruth telling us our family history going back several generations. It will be nice to listen to her voice again.
Ruth truly was one-of-a-kind. She was wildly intelligent, charming, a bit eccentric, and more than just a little bit quirky. She was a self-described loner in her later years and lived her life the way she wanted. But she was always willing to gab on the phone. You didn’t call her unless you had at least an hour to spare! And we got such a chuckle when she would announce herself as “Aunt Ruthie on the White River in Indianapolis” … How many Aunt Ruths did she think we had???
Her nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews, will miss her so much.
Services will be held at Randall & Roberts Funeral Home, 1150 Logan St., Noblesville, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. A service will be held at 2 p.m., followed by a short graveside service at 3 p.m. at Crownland Cemetery in Noblesville, where Ruth will be laid to rest next to her husband John.
Condolences: randallroberts.com