Ruth Pell's Obituary
Ruth Greenfield Pell 1925 - 2018
Ruth Greenfield Pell was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1925, to Isidor Greenfield and Sophie Sommer Greenfield. She was the third of their three children. Ruthie was an excellent student who skipped two grades and graduated from James Madison High School at sixteen. She became an excellent typist and stenographer and before marrying worked for a law firm on Wall Street as a legal stenographer. She met Lenny Pell in Riis Park and they were married in 1948. With their infant daughter, Susan, they moved to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1950 when Lenny and his brother opened an TV electronics business there. Two more children, Iris and Howard, were born in Norfolk. Ruth was an excellent organizer and homemaker, devoted to her family, who loved to entertain her friends and loved ones at home with her celebrated cooking. She worked just as efficiently and with the same devotion in any outside employment she undertook. In 1964 it was the Pell family's great joy to relocate to Miami and join Ruth's family circle there. Ruth embarked on a new career when she became an executive assistant to the director of WBPT-TV, the
PBS affiliate, where she remained until she retired. From 1980 Ruth and Lenny lived among friends and family in Colony Point in Pembroke Pines where they were active members of that community. In retirement they enjoyed traveling to visit their children and grandchildren in North Carolina, California and France, taking cruises, and spending some time in New England in the summers. Ruth's energy, good sense, and devotion to her family and career never faltered. Her practical expertise, wit, and beauty were ever-present. She survives through her children, Susan, Iris, and Howard, and their spouses, her granddaughter Tara, her grandsons David and Michael and their spouses, and her two great-grandchildren, Evelyn Ruth and George, and friends who knew and loved her.
What’s your fondest memory of Ruth?
What’s a lesson you learned from Ruth?
Share a story where Ruth's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Ruth you’ll never forget.
How did Ruth make you smile?