Ruth N. Watkins, an outspoken Howard County activist for seniors whose advocacy also centered on the visually impaired, died of a heart attack Friday at Howard County General Hospital. The longtime Ellicott City resident was 84.
Ruth Naomi Herring, the daughter of a florist and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Sinclair Lane.
After graduating from Eastern High School in 1942, she worked in accounting at International Harvester on East 25th Street.
While working at International Harvester, Mrs. Watkins met her future husband, Roland Eugene Watkins, who had been a major in the Army during World War II and later returned as the company's inventory supervisor.
They were married in 1947 and moved to Ellicott City seven years later.
Mrs. Watkins' voluntarism began in 1955, when her eldest son was unable to attend kindergarten because such classes were unavailable at the time in Howard County public schools.
Mrs. Watkins, who was joined by several neighbors, established a co-op kindergarten and later persuaded the county schools superintendent to set aside a room for them to use for their kindergarten in St. John's Lane Elementary School.
"I have always been very active," Mrs. Watkins told The Baltimore Sun in 2007. "It would have driven me crazy to sit at home and just do housework then ... and it would still drive me crazy now. Being involved gives a purpose to my life and keeps me mentally alert."
Beginning in the early 1960s, Mrs. Watkins became involved in zoning battles that might have had a negative impact on her St. John's Lane neighborhood.
Later, she devoted the same time and energy she had used to challenge zoning matters to issues that affected the county's senior citizens.
"She was one of my constituents, and I first got acquainted with Ruth when I was knocking on doors back in 2002 and she invited me into her home," said Courtney Watson, Howard County Council vice chairwoman. "She was a strong advocate for her seniors and more public money for programs and staffing for senior citizen centers," Ms. Watson said. "She became a ferocious advocate for seniors' issues and became well-known to me and the county executive. She was just a ball of energy."
In the 1990s, after she began losing her sight to macular degeneration, Mrs. Watkins became the facilitator of the Low-Vision Group that gathered Tuesday afternoons at Ellicott City Senior Center.
