Ruth W. Stokesdied of kidney cancer on Monday, February 16th, 2015 in Hanover, New Hampshire.

She was born into a Quaker family in Moylan, Pennsylvania, in 1927 and graduated in 1945 from Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school near her family home. She then went to Wellesley College, graduating with the class of 1949. In 1948, she married Joseph Stokes, III, MD.

Most of her professional life was spent at Cambridge Friends School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1963 to 1980, where she lived most of her adult life, before moving to Kendal at Hanover, NH. Her various roles at the school were as secretary, assistant head of school and director of admissions.

She was a world traveler, curious about other cultures, and visiting dear friends who had moved all over the world. She excelled at friendship. Family and friends were what she held most dear to her and they returned that love, with great loyalty.

Her marriage to Joseph Stokes III, MD, ended in divorce in 1964, but they reunited in 1979, a particularly happy time in her life, remarrying in 1988 before he died in 1989 in Boston, Mass.

Ruth leaves behind a son, Peter W. Stokes of Newbury, MA, a daughter, Margaret Stokes Holt of Cupertino, CA, and a son, J. Barclay Stokes of Volcano, Hawaii and a step son, Jay Stokes and his family, of San Francisco. She also leaves behind four grandchildren and one great grandchild and countless extended family members and friends.

The memorial service will be held April 25th, 2015, at Kendal at Hanover, New Hampshire.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Rand-Wilson Funeral Home of Hanover, NH