In HonorOfRuth Edmonds Hill

March 5, 1925 - April 15, 2023
Second Congregational Church50 Onota St. Pittsfield, MASaturday August 5, 20231:00 P.M.

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Order of Service
Saturday, August 5th, 2023

Welcome                                                                        Rev. Leonard D. Comithier 

Prayer of Invocation

Lord's Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom,and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.                                   Matthew 6:9-13

Reading of the Obituary	                                                       	    Blayne Whitfield
Reflection	                                                                                Doris Jean Williams
Tribute	                                                                                        Marlena Willis
Scripture      Old Testament: Psalm 27     New Testament: John 14:1-6
Eulogy         	                                                              Rev. Leonard D. Comithier
Pastoral Prayer	                                                              Rev. Leonard D. Comithier
Benediction				                                      Rev. Leonard D. Comithier

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The PrayerOf the Chalice

“Father, to Thee I raise my whole being a vessel emptied of self.  Accept, Lord this my emptiness and so fill me with Thyself – Thy Light, Thy Love, They Life – that these Thy precious Gifts may radiate through me and overflow the chalice of my heart into the hearts of all with whom I come in contact this day revealing unto them the beauty of Thy Joy and Wholeness and the serenity of Thy Peace which nothing can destroy”. - Frances Nuttall

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Obituary

Ruth Edmonds Hill, 98, of Cambridge passed away on April 15, 2023. She was born in Pittsfield, MA.Ruth was a scholar, oral historian, editor, historic preservation advocate, and storytelling movement founder. She was the treasured wife of the late Hugh Morgan Hill "Brother Blue” and Great-granddaughter of Rev. Samuel Harrison, the first pastor of Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield and the Chaplain of the Mass. 54th Regiment. 
Ruth’s accomplishments include; Oral History Curator at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (RIAS), Oral and History Curator at Harvard University, Schlesinger Library for four decades. Her seminal projects include: Oral Histories of Black Women, Women in the Federal Government, Cambodian American Women, Latina women, and Chinese American women.  
Ruth was editor of The Women of Courage, sponsored by Radcliffe College.  She recorded and published her own mother’s story for the project.  She participated in the Tully Crenshaw Feminist Oral History on National Organization for Women (NOW), an oral history project of Radcliffe College in 2012.  
She earned the RIAS Dean's Award for Excellence; and in 2018 she was the Harvard Hero for "The Encouragement of Cross-School Scholarship and the mentorship of generations of librarians and archivists of color." 
Ruth was the Co-founder of the National Association of Black Storytellers, recipient of NABS Zora Neale Hurston.

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Award and the Northeast Storytelling (NEST) Brother Blue and Ruth Hill Award.
She was a member of the Oral History Association, Editorial Board and The Oral History Review.
Ruth chaired Nonprint Format Award and Book Awards committees. She won the OHA 2018 Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi Award for outstanding achievement in using oral history to create a more humane and just world, the New England Association of Oral History's Harvey A. Kantor Memorial Award, the Psi Omega Chapter's Lucy Miller Mitchell Heritage Award, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Greater Boston YMCA Black Achievers Awards. She received Honorary trustee for Samuel Harrison Society. Ruth received her BS degree in biological sciences from  Massachusetts State College, a BS degree in library science from Simmons College as well as a certificate in theatre librarianship from Columbia University School of Library Science.
She was predeceased by her parents Florence Jacobs Edmonds and William Bailey Edmonds, siblings Arreta Edmonds Smith, Lorna Edmonds Whitfield, James Jacobs Edmonds, Carlton Edmonds Sr., nephew Keith Edmonds Whitfield. She is survived by nephew Blayne Whitfield and wife Jeannie Williams; nephews Carlton Edmonds Jr. and Bernard Edmonds; grandnephew Darren; great-grandniece Ah'lexus; great-grandnephews TraQuan, Darren, Maxson; great-great-grandnieces Kae'dyn, Dream. Cousins Gordon, Sr., Jennifer (George), Wayne, Kenneth (Christa), Gordon, Jr., Stephen (Shannon), Selene, Hailey (Kwesi), Tiffany, Ashley, Theresa, Aaron, Mason, Liam, and many more grandnephews, grandnieces, and cousins.

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Church Home

Ruth Edmonds Hill was born Ruth Ina Edmonds into Second Congressional Church to faithful church members William B. and Florence Edmonds.  Her faith was nurtured and grown under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. T Nelson Baker and then Rev. Harold Leslie Nevers.  She was a student of the Second Congregational Church Sunday School.  The lessons learned during her pre-adult years would faithfully carry her throughout her life. 
Second Congregational Church was always home.  She was a child of the church. So today, we bid a final farewell from the church she would call home.

Ruth Edmonds Hill passed away on the birthday of Rev. Harrison.  She is now resting peacefully in the Pittsfield Cemetery.  She resides there with her father, William B. Edmonds and her husband, Dr. Hugh M. Hill (Brother Blue).

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A message from the Samuel Harrison Society

The Samuel Harrison Society thanks Ruth Edmonds Hill for her tireless pursuit of preserving Rev. Harrison’s legacy.  Being an historian herself, she knew one day, that her home, the home of her great grandfather would one day become an historical landmark.  Her perserverance finally paid off in 2006 when the homestead of Rev. Harrison was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Her efforts made it possible that the Samuel Harrison Society could begin the creation of a house museum dedicated to the life of Rev. Harrison.  We are forever in her debt!

The Rev. Samuel Harrison House82 Third St.Pittsfield, MA

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