TURNER – Ruth Esther Hurd St. Peter Bickford, 88, on Nov. 7, 2020, passed over into the Eternal realm very peacefully at her daughter’s home in Turner with her daughters by her side. Ruth was born on July 26, 1932 in Oakland, the third child of four born to Margaret Mosher Hurd and Mark A. Hurd of Oakland.

Ruth was educated in the Oakland schools, and graduated from Williams High School where she was active in orchestra, glee club, majorettes, drama and many other clubs. She was also a member of the 4-H club and the Oakland Baptist Church. After High School she went to Eastern Maine General Hospital School of Nursing, becoming a nurse in 1953, fulfilling her childhood dream.

She married Carroll St. Peter in 1953 and moved to Connecticut where she raised her six children and two stepchildren. The family moved back to Maine in 1970 and Ruth returned to nursing, passing her boards to become an RN. She worked in all three Waterville hospitals, spending the most time on the Orthopedic floor at Thayer.

In 1981 she married Raymond Bickford who had been a childhood friend. Ruth retired in 1996 yet kept active as a member of the Oakland Baptist Church, the Ladies Circle and Grange. She volunteered for the soup and sandwich program, sewed lap quilts and participated in many projects to serve others in the community. She also served two terms on the SAD 47 School Board.

Ruth was known for the many quilts she made for any marriage or baby born into the family. She was a lover of babies, cats, birds, gardening, flowers, canning and preserving, knitting, sewing, quilting, ice cream and popcorn. She loved to share the things she made, whether it was a jar of jelly or a pair of pajamas or a quilt. She was also very giving of her time, quietly serving the community around her. She was known around town as the walking lady as she was often seen walking around Oakland.

Though Alzheimer’s disease robbed her of many memories in the last years, she still loved to tell stories of her growing up years and her family. Ruth never lost her sense of humor, even to the very end. She could still get a joke and make one.

Ruth is survived by her children, Landon St. Peter and wife Mary Fessenden of Oakland, Diane Pullen and wife Lisa Gonsalves of Boston, Mass., Caron Beeckel and husband Peter Beeckel of Turner, Mark St. Peter and wife Andrea Glidden of Palermo, and Glenn St. Peter of Sidney, stepdaughter, Cheryl Mansu and husband John Mansu of Galt, Calif.; 17 grandchildren; and 42 great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her eldest daughter Cindy St. Peter, and stepdaughter Linda Shaw; and both her husbands; as well as all her siblings and parents.

There will be a celebration of life announced later in the spring.