Ruth Collins Bulkeley Miles died May 21, 2015.
She was born August 17, 1942 in Pittsfield, Mass., the daughter of Barbara Spurr Van Deusen Bulkeley and Morgan Gardner Bulkeley III. She grew up on a farm in Mount Washington, Mass., surrounded by wild animals that had been injured or orphaned, and were under the care of her parents.
She attended Fairfax Hall School in Charlottesville, Va., and after graduating, she attended Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H., where she was captain of the tennis and ski teams. Afterward, she received a scholarship to study piano at Boston University, from which she graduated in 1964.
In 1968, she married William Deming Miles, and they lived in Mount Washington, Mass., in a small cabin built by her father-in-law. Ruth worked with her husband at his business, Copake Lumber, in Copake, N.Y., where they both enjoyed serving their customers.
Ruth was dedicated to holistic and herbal medicine, as well as to her garden. With her husband, she lived a simple, Thoreauvian life, loving the outdoors. Her husband died on November 21, 2014, exactly six months earlier.
She is survived by her brother, Morgan Bulkeley IV, her sister-in-law, Eleanor Tillinghast, and her brother-in-law, Peter Miles, as well as numerous cousins.
The family invites everyone to join them for a joint memorial service for Ruth and Bill Miles on Sunday, June 21st at 2:00 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Sheffield.
To send remembrances to her family go to www.finnertyandstevens.com
