Ruth Linne Cole
- Born: 11 Nov 1901, Greenwood, Maine
- Marriage (1): William Straw Hastings
- Died: 16 Oct 1981, Norway, Maine at age 79
- Buried: East Bethel Cemetery
 General Notes:
From Barbara Honkala 11/26/01:
Ruth attended the Greenwood City school, Gould Academy, and went two years to the Farmington Normal School, then taught school in Lockes Mills and Greenwood Center before marrying Bill Hastings. After his death in 1943, she went back to teaching to support her three children, and taught fifth grade in the Bethel Village school until she retired in 1970. To upgrade her credentials, she attended summer schools and night classes, and graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a degree in Education. She was active in the Eastern Star. She sold the home Bill had built for her in 1923 to their nephew, Warren Hastings, in 1960s, and lived in various apartments in Bethel village through the years.
After her retirement she moved to South Paris, bought a mobile home, and lived in the Countryside Mobile Home Park on High Street. She kept busy as a volunteer at the Stephens Memorial Hospital Thrift Shop and also at their Gift and Lunch Shop. She enjoyed travelling, and made several Maine Line bus trips with her sister. She also travelled to Montana and Alaska several times to visit her children. One of the highlights of her travels was a week-long, 165 mile canoe trip down the Missouri River with her daughter and a friend, experiencing part of the Lewis and Clark route.
She enjoyed the outside and hiked often with friends.
She braided beautiful rugs, also knitted, crochetted, and sewed well. She learned tailoring and made nice jackets and coats. When she was young, she learned to play the piano, and often played for her own enjoyment and her family's. She also liked to sing and would sing to all the familiar old songs while she was doing her housework.
She was a member of the Alder River Grange, and Eastern Star.
Ruth married William Straw Hastings, son of George Kimball Hastings and Mary Louise Fifield. (William Straw Hastings was born on 13 Jul 1901 in East Bethel, ME, died on 29 Oct 1943 in Upton, Maine and was buried in East Bethel Cemetery.)
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