Point Reyes Light - October 23, 2003
Ruth Paige, 80, talkative, friendly
By Larken Bradley
Point Reyes Station resident Ruth Paige died unexpectedly at home Friday, Oct. 17, of natural causes. She was 80.
Twelve years ago Mrs. Paige and her husband, Arthur Paige, purchased their two-story Victorian-replica house off Cypress Road on a lane now named Paige Walk. "It sounds like an ego trip," Mr. Paige told The Light this week, though the idea was the brainstorm of a county-roads engineer, he explained.
Young designer
A retired advertising-business stenographer, as a young woman Mrs. Paige had trained as an interior designer. She put her artistic eye to work in the couple’s West Marin home, where an all-white palette dominates the decor.
Born on July 1, 1923, in Decatur, Illinois, Ruth Scheiter was one of two children whose father was a church organist. After graduating from high school she joined the Women’s Coast Guard. During World War II she was stationed in Boston, serving as a clerical worker.
She later came to California, where she performed as a baton twirler with The Caravan, a marching-band unit sponsored by the American Grocers’ Association. She eventually left the ensemble to study interior design on the G.I. bill at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.
In San Francisco she joined a singles’ social club and met her future husband at a soiree at the old Hippo restaurant on Van Ness Avenue.
After a second group excursion to Nepenthe in Big Sur, the couple began dating. On St. Patrick’s Day, 1962, they married in the chapel at Stanford University, Mr. Paige’s alma mater.
Marriage a surprise
Both in their late 30s, marriage came as a surprise to Mrs. Paige. Neither anxious nor unhappy about her single status, "she didn’t feel like she’d ever get married," Mr. Paige reflected.
While Mr. Paige spent his career in the engineering department at Southern Pacific Railway, Mrs. Paige worked in several advertising agencies and rose to become a steno media supervisor.
Throughout their lives the couple took advantage of Mr. Paige’s travel perquisites with Southern Pacific. They rode the rails in Pullman staterooms all through the western US and points east.
Before settling in West Marin they lived in San Francisco, Pacifica, down the Peninsula, and in Sonoma County.
A great chef
A talkative, friendly woman, Mrs. Paige was an accomplished home cook. Her Point Reyes Station kitchen was outfitted with a professional chef’s Wolf range, and "every possible gadget," a gourmet could ever dream of, Mr. Paige remarked.
She was predeceased by her brother.
Mrs. Paige is survived by her husband, Arthur Paige of Point Reyes Station.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, at Point Reyes Presbyterian Church. Private burial will be at Olema Cemetery.