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Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/mJJ.2ACEB/182
Message Board Post:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (newspaper)
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Section: A - 13
The following obituary appeared as above listed. It was written by Sally Kalson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Email: skalson(a)post-gazette.com or Phone: 412-263-1610.
Ruth Macfarlane Debevoise was a direct descendant of George Clymer, a Pennsylvania merchant who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
That accident of birth became one of her two most avid interests--gardening was the other--and she became a meticulous chronicler of the family tree, compiling many notebooks full of photos and portraits.
To the great surprise of family and friends, she also went from bedrock Republican to outspoken Democrat later in life, making generous contributions to liberal causes and even quitting the Espicopalian church when it became too conservative for her liking.
Mrs. Debevoise, of Sewickley [Pennsylvania], died at home on Monday [January 10, 2005] of chronic pulmonary disease. She was 88.
"My mother was very, very proud of her lineage," said her daughter Nancy Debevoise of Lander, Wyoming. "She had a big scrapbook with lots of photos, old portraits, articles and research. She kept a very accurate family tree that went down through the generations with all the names, dates and who married who."
There were seperate scrapbooks for all the branching lines of the family her daughter said.
"She kept one of my father's family, too. He was a descendant of Eli Whitney.
"Mom just loved being part of such a distinguished family, so my sister and I were always looking for skeletons in the family closets," said her daughter. "We never could find any," she added--unless one counts being related to Benedict Arnold or Aaron Burr, or maybe both, on their father's side.
"Mom didn't consider them skeletons," said Nancy Debevoise. "She would say they started out right, but probably fell in with unattractive friends."
"Mrs. Debevoise was born in West Virginia and grew up in Towanda, Bradford County. She attended the prestigious Baldwin School for girls in Bryn Mawr, PA, and Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She left college after her father lost all his money in the Great Depression, and eventually attended Penn State University.
For a short time she did clerical work for the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co. in New York City, but her face and form eventually landed her a place with a large modeling agency. Those jobs put her image in magazine advertisements and illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post.
After marrying her husband at the age of 25, Mrs. Debevoise never worked for a paycheck again.
Mrs. Debevoice and her husband Thomas Debevoise, lived in Baltimore, [Maryland] Clarksburg, West Virginia, Johnstown and Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania] before moving to Sewickley in 1964. He was an executive with Peoples Natural Gas Co., and he died in 1993.
An avid gardener who helped found the Yard Birds Garden Club, Mrs. Debevoise transmitted that enthusiasm to her children and grandchildren.
"Somehow we all got the gardening bug," said her other daughter, Barbara Dinsmore of Washington, D.C., who works for a landscape designer. "And we all compost like crazy."
Her conversion from Republican to Democrat took everyone by surprise, said Dinsmore, who said her mother became a financial supporter of environmental groups, abortion rights, inner-city school enrichment programs and Native American causes.
"She was really radicalized over the past 20 years, and sometimes it made her not very popular with her Sewickly friends. Here she was in this little Republican enclave, and she put a Kerry [John Kerry for President, 2004 election] sign in front of her house. People were amazed that she became so outspoken, but my mother was a tough bird with very strong convictions."
In addition to her two daughters, Mr. Debevoise is survived by two grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held on March 12 at 1 p.m. in the Presbyterian Church of Sewickley. Arrangements are by Richard D. Cole Funeral Home.
The family suggests contributions to the Forbes Hospice Hopewell office, the Sewickley Library, or the Presbyterian Church of Sewickley.