Ruth Epstein died peacefully at Armbrook Village in Westfield, on Sept. 28, 2024, with loving family by her side. Most who knew her would say she was an inspirational 99 years young.
Born in Holyoke on July 13, 1925, the daughter of Morris and Lillian Leitzen, Ruth was an artist, an entrepreneur, a collector, a world traveler, and an ardent lover of books and films who lived her remarkable life to the fullest.
After graduating from Syracuse University, where she majored in marketing and fashion design, Ruth was hired as a buyer at G. Fox & Co. department store in Hartford, Conn. This fortuitously led to a romance and whirlwind engagement with her future husband, A. William (“Bill”) Epstein, when she purchased furniture for her new apartment from Bill’s store, Epstein Furniture Co., and Bill offered to deliver it personally. They married and departed on a dream honeymoon voyage to Europe on the ocean liner SS Ile de France. Thus began Ruth’s passion for travel, which would bring her to visit more than 50 countries.
Through the early years of her marriage, Ruth worked as an interior decorator in the family’s Holyoke furniture store, and became known for her eye for design and fabulous sense of style. When her children were grown, she and her sister Dolores launched a retail career, opening the unique art, jewelry, and giftware boutique Metro Arts, originally in Springfield, and later moving to Longmeadow and Edgartown.
Ruth was a collector of art, antiques, textiles, artifacts, and more during her international travels, and her thrice-annual trips to Brimfield Flea Markets. As an example, her phenomenal collection of nearly 150 hats included 19th century stagecoach bonnets, Victorian hats adorned with plumed ostrich feathers, elegant Parisian millinery, and sealskin top hats. Ruth also loved movies, and she developed and programmed a weekly film series at the Barclay, her winter residence in South Palm Beach, Fla. As an enthusiastic cinephile, one of her greatest thrills was attending the 1989 Academy Awards in Hollywood.
In 2008, after the death of her husband, Ruth moved into her daughter Lisa’s guesthouse and made Martha’s Vineyard her permanent residence. She loved living in her little cottage that she nicknamed “Grammy’s Tree House,” and she was grateful to be embraced by the Island community. Through her years on M.V., she kept busy and involved in numerous activities, including being a regular participant in aqua-aerobics classes, Up-Island COA and West Tisbury library events, Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center activities, and more. Ruth often remarked that in her later years, she thought she had the most perfect life, spending seven months of the year on the Island, and wintering at her condo in South Palm Beach.
A highlight of Ruth’s Vineyard life was her 2014 show at Featherstone Center for the Arts, titled “Retrospective of a Creative Life,” which included seven decades of her work in nearly as many mediums. Ruth had an innate need to be busy and learning, and every 10 years, she would embark on mastering a new art form. In the 1960s, she explored mosaic art, painting, and clay sculpture; in the 1970s, she learned to weave, and had projects simultaneously underway on three looms in her home, in the 1980s and ’90s, she was a quilter, photographer, and stone sculptor, and she created and sold a line of handmade, one-of-a-kind, fully accessorized dolls called “Sweet Memories.” This was followed by the creation of a collection of unique art dolls inspired by folklore, myth, and fantasy, for which she received a first-place award at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair, and a special award from the M.V. Doll Club. In the 2000s, Ruth shifted mediums again, and became a master collagist.
Ruth was a remarkable woman who led a very full and creative life, but undoubtedly, she received her greatest joy of all from her children and grandchildren. Ruth leaves her daughter, Lisa Epstein and her husband Ivory Littlefield of West Tisbury; her sons, Mitch Epstein and his wife Susan Bell of New York City, and Rick Epstein and his wife Susan McFarlin of Westfield. She also leaves behind her grandchildren, Sam and Hannah Epstein, Lucia Bell-Epstein, Leah Isabelle Littlefield, and her step-granddaughter Maria Littlefield O’Day and her husband Martin O’Day, plus two step-great-grandsons, Luka and Hunter O’Day; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. Ruth was predeceased by her youngest son, Danny Epstein; by her beloved husband of 56 years, Bill Epstein; as well as her parents; and her sister, Dolores Hutner.
The family is grateful to Barbara Mikuski and Celeste Hart-Legere for their devoted care of Ruth following her move to Westfield, and they are also grateful to the wonderful staff at Healing Hands and at Armbrook Village, where she spent her final years. A memorial gathering and exhibition of Ruth’s artwork is to be held at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 2-5 pm, with a service at 3:30 pm. Memorial contributions may be made to the Arc of Massachusetts, online at thearcofmass.org, an organization committed to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a mission close to Ruth’s heart.
