Biography

Sylvia “Ruth” DeWitt was born in 1906 near Winterset, Iowa to Minnie Marcia Mitchell and David Seymour DeWitt. She grew up on the family farm where she helped raise her younger siblings. She graduated from Patterson High School in 1925. She attended classes at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and received nursing aide training, but returned home to help her family when her mother became ill.

When her mother passed away in 1929, DeWitt took over the responsibility of taking care of the home and her youngest sibling, Richard. She worked on the farm until 1946, when her father suffered from a stroke and moved into a residential care center in Des Moines. DeWitt worked at this care center until her father passed away in 1947.

DeWitt moved to California in 1948 and worked at a tuberculosis sanatorium in Olive View, near Los Angeles. In 1954, relatives invited DeWitt to join them in driving to Alaska, then a United States territory. She joined them on their trip and ended up moving to Alaska, where she stayed for the remainder of her life.

She worked at a variety of hospitals in Alaska, serving as a nursing aide. Her first nursing job was in Anchorage with the Native Public Health Service. She also worked in Mt. Edgecumbe, Dillingham, and Nome. Before retiring, she worked in Juneau at St. Ann’s Hospital and Bartlett Memorial Hospital.

After her retirement, she moved to Sitka to live at the Pioneers Home, an assisted living facility. She served as an unofficial tour guide for new residents and tourists that visited Sitka and Juneau during the summer.

She remained close to her siblings, nieces, and nephews despite the long distance and would write to them often. She would also visit them every few years or have them come visit her in Alaska.

Ruth DeWitt passed away in 1997.

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