Ruth Hansen
OBITUARY
Ruth Allen Hansen died peacefully shortly before her 95th birthday in Pacific Grove, California, surrounded by her family. She was born at Fort McDowell on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.
The daughter of Victor Laurel Hansen and Doris Allen, Ruth was born into an Army family and spent her childhood in many places, including Chilkoot Barracks (Fort Seward) in Haines, Alaska; Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Fort Ruger in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Denver, Colorado; and other postings across the country. She often remarked that she attended thirteen schools before graduating from high school.
Ruth graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. That same year, on September 18, she married William “Bill” Anderson Newman. Bill completed his master’s degree at UCB in marine biology in 1955, shortly after the birth of their first son, Hans. The young family moved to Truk Island in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, where Bill taught at the Pacific Island Central School. While there, they had their second son, Jim, and in 1957, they returned to the United States. Their son Eric and daughter Anne were subsequently born in Berkeley.
In 1962, the family moved to La Jolla when Bill joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 1963, they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, but returned to La Jolla in 1965 and settled near Windansea Beach. After eighteen years of marriage, Ruth and Bill divorced. Except for a few years elsewhere in La Jolla, Ruth remained in the same home until 2018, when she moved to Canterbury Woods in Pacific Grove, returning to the Monterey Peninsula where her parents first met.
Ruth’s professional life reflected both intellectual curiosity and commitment to service. Over the years, she worked as a laboratory assistant, preschool teacher, probation officer, social worker, and family and marriage counselor. In 1990, she earned a Master of Social Work degree from San Diego State University, further formalizing a vocation centered on supporting individuals and families.
Ruth was active in several community organizations, including Oceanids at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Welcome Wagon, and United Youth Ministries through St. James Episcopal Church and La Jolla Presbyterian Church. She was a dedicated volunteer, delivering meals for Meals on Wheels for many years and serving as a poll worker in her La Jolla precinct. She also enjoyed attending classes as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through UC San Diego. She instilled in her children an appreciation of poetry and continued reading and listening to poetry throughout her life. She frequently hosted family and friends at her home, enjoying the company and conversations.
After moving to Pacific Grove, Ruth formed close friendships at Canterbury Woods and especially enjoyed lunches at Roy’s at Pebble Beach.
She was predeceased by her parents and her older brother Robin, older sister Carolyn, and her fraternal twin sister Nancy. Ruth is survived by her four children – Hans, Jim, Eric, and Anne – and by nine grandchildren: Nico, Henry, Sierra, Will, Jake, Nick, Amy, Ellie, and Katie.
A memorial celebration of Ruth’s life will be held on March 29, 2026, at 3 p.m. on the Memorial Lawn at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in La Jolla.