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Ruth was tough. She always reminded me of my mom. Really tough when she made up her mind but she wasn’t malicious or unkind. Best of all she was not pretentious which counted a great deal for me. You’ll see her toughness below in a letter dad wrote to her daughter Sally, describing what Ruth did when her fossils were stolen in Argentina - by the police, no less. My perception -which is obviously based on limited data- is that Ruth was Al’s equal, just as mom was dad’s equal. There was a pairing, a balance, a symmetry to their personalities. Their relationships allowed the men to go out and get famous. While they stood on the shoulders of their women. Yep. That’s how it is. Unfortunately, isn’t it. Ruth paired Al just like Marie did Jim.
Ruth obviously supported Al in his work. She literally went out on expeditions and dug with him, on her hands and knees. Under circumstances that are always crappy and rough. Not the sort of place a fastidious, shrinking violet will choose. But she was out there. This particular photo was taken of her down in the dirt during the first Harvard Expedition to the foothills of the Andes in western Argentina. Six months in 1956 this little tribe of ruffians dug and poked around in the dirt, discovering a large number of things, some of the new. She was there with them.
Ruth was also intellectually curious. She wanted to know what was going on, what things fitted together, what Al was doing. That is something that impresses me because my own experience was diametrically opposed. It is a wonderful thing for spouses to share things like that, ideas and concepts.
Ruth had a deep appreciation and affection for my mom. I was aware of it at the time in a limited sense, but didn’t comprehend the uniqueness of that. I was, instead, impatient with my mom who didn’t have much education, worrying that she might embarrass me. My, my. What an arrogant young whelp I was. My mom was steel and sturdy and waded into that social life with fortitude at least equal to dad’s. In a short time, Ruth came to rely on mom to help her when she had big parties at her home on Avon Street, a posh neighborhood in Cambridge for the high-ranking Harvard faculty, doctors, lawyers, and blue bloods.
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