Ruth E. Colton

Services for Ruth E. Colton, 97, Lawrence, will be at noon Monday in the Mausoleum Chapel at Mount Hope Cemetery in Topeka. Burial will follow. A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church.

Mrs. Colton died Sunday, Aug. 28, 2003, at Brandon Woods Retirement Community after a brief illness.

She was born March 31, 1906, in Lubec, Maine, the daughter of the Rev. Stephen Marshall and Mary Dysart Bowles. She moved with her family to Minneapolis, Minn., where she graduated from high school. She moved with her husband to Kansas City, Mo., and Topeka before moving to Lawrence in 1991.

Mrs. Colton worked at Dayton’s Department Store after high school. While in Topeka, she was a member of the Methodist Church, Eastern Star and Stormont-Vail Hospital Women’s Auxiliary. She volunteered for the Red Cross during World War II. She was a member of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Lawrence.

She married Royal Clayton Colton on Sept. 23, 1926. He died July 18, 1983. A daughter, Priscilla Eileen Miles; a son, Royal Clayton Colton Jr.; and a grandchild also died earlier.

Survivors include two daughters, Eleanor Ruth Brunott, Topeka, and Marion Leila Vernon, Lawrence; eight grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandchild.

The family suggests memorials to St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church.

Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home in Topeka is in charge of arrangements.