Ruth Shirley Lewin was born on July 9, 1925 in Fall River, Massachusetts to Perez Otis Lewin and Mae Bailey Lewin. At age 13, she and sisters Edith, Inez and Patience moved to Portsmouth, which Ruth thereafter considered her home. She attended Portsmouth High School where she was the head cheerleader, graduating in 1943. She went on to Wentworth Douglas Nursing school where she graduated in 1946. It was while she was a nurse at Wentworth Douglas Hospital that she met John K Griffin. They were married in 1947. The family grew to include Joan Kathleen, John Kenneth Junior, Michael Joseph, Ruth Elizabeth (deceased), Joyce Elaine and Timothy Gerard.

With the “last baby out of the house”, Ruth channeled her energy and her desire to serve into helping others. In 1962 she became the president of the PTA at Whipple School and was a Cub Scout Den mother for her sons. She was active in all her children’s school activities: chaperoning the band to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, helping to build floats for school parades, encouraging her children to run for school office, join the band, try out for school plays. She insisted they attend college.

The family moved to 479 Richards Avenue in 1963, and Ruth began to revive the “city/farm”, first with chickens rescued from a biology experiment. Rabbits, ducks, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, geese, goats followed; and sheep, generations of sheep: Willy, Ruffy and Tuffy, Pip. Ruth enjoyed seeing children at the fence, and then their children, and grandchildren. Her farm brought joy to many, and if you were lucky, you were invited into her kitchen to help bottle feed a lamb. Her latest addition was bees with hives under the peach tree. The bees have been told.

She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, where she was also Regent, the Colonial Dames, Daughters of the French and Indian War, Founding Families of Rhode Island. Books in her parlor linked her ancestors, the Wildbores, to the signing of the Magna Carta.

Ever active in the community, Ruth worshipped at the First United Methodist Church. She was a loyal member of Lodge #97 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks. She was a Proprietor at the Portsmouth Atheneum , member #37, joining in 1989.

In 1964, she campaigned for Nelson Rockefeller in the NH Primary; Barry Goldwater in the general election, and her career in politics was born. It soon became a “family affair” with pamphlet-ing, door-to-door campaigning and standing at candidate booths and outside voting places expected from all the children. In 1968, she was elected a delegate-at large for Richard Nixon at the Miami convention, and again in 1972. Always one to share the wealth, Ruth not only attended Republican Conventions, she often took along her children and grandchildren as Pages. Joyce and Tim went to Miami; grandson Jason Maloney attended New Orleans in 1988 and Houston in 1992; in 1996 it was grandson Kyle Griffin for Bob Dole in San Diego; and in 2000, grandson Nathan Griffin for Bush in Philadelphia. In 2000 she served on the Republican Convention Site Selection Committee and was twice a Republican National Committee Woman.

Locally, Ruth was appointed to the Portsmouth Police Commission and served on the Portsmouth Housing Authority for 43 years, 20 of them as chairman. In 2022 the Ruth Lewin Griffin Place was dedicated in her honor as the first work force housing in Portsmouth.

Ruth learned to knit early in life while working at the psychiatric hospital in Concord. It became a life-long passion, winning her blue ribbons and accolades for her quilting and crocheting as well throughout the state. In 1970, when she was first elected to the General Court of New Hampshire, her knitting went with her where she developed a reputation and following for being productive while enacting legislation. Ruth was re-elected 5 times and served 10 years in the General Court. In 1972, she was appointed by George Roberts as Majority Whip, the first woman to serve in that role in New Hampshire. In 1982, she was elected to the NH Senate. In 1984, she was elected to the Executive Council where she served for 22 years, serving under 8 Governors: John Sununu, Judd Gregg, Steve Merrill, Jeanne Shaheen, Craig Benson, John Lynch, Maggie Hassan, and Chris Sununu. As one once joked, “She was not the governor, but she ran the state.”

Ruth was the first woman in New Hampshire to be elected to the State House, the Senate and the Executive Council. She was hailed as a trailblazer for women in state and national politics, with many calling her a mentor, and a diehard advocate of woman’s issues. In 2006 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the NH Commission on the Status of Women. On 2004 she was declared Woman of the year, and in 2020, Woman of the Century. In 2015 Senator Kelly Ayotte read a tribute to Ruth Griffin into the Congressional Record to honor her 90th birthday. The Little Bay Bridge on the Spaulding Turnpike connecting Dover Point to Newington was re-named the Ruth Lewin Griffin Bridge in 2018.

Ruth Griffin showed up. She could be counted on to follow through on her promises with the courage of her convictions. She would say, if the red car is in the yard, come in the house, and many did, asking for the help they knew she would try her best to accomplish. She knew how to fight and when to finesse. But whether it was dancing the two-step with George Bush, riding in the lead car at Indy, taking the helicopter to NH Motor Speedway, Ruth Griffin knew how to have fun. She loved to celebrate. Her smile and her dimple lit up the room. That smile will be missed.

Just as Ruth Griffin encouraged her fellow high school cheerleaders to attend nursing school after graduation, and just as while an Executive Counselor, Ruth Griffin declined an offer of sewing machines for the woman’s prison unless they arrived accompanied by computers, Ruth Griffin believed in advocacy for women. With the donations from her 90th Birthday, she established the Ruth Lewin Griffin Fund which offers scholarships through an educational program to young women who reside in Portsmouth Housing. She attended every graduation from this program, proud of each recipient. We would like to continue this work for her. If you wish to donate in her honor, Donations can be made to The Ruth Lewin Griffin Fund https://cityoftheopendoor.com/ruthgriffinfund or by sending c/o the Portsmouth Housing Authority, 245 Middle Street, Portsmouth New Hampshire 03801.

Ruth is survived by her 5 children: Joan Griffin, John Griffin, Michael Griffin, Joyce Griffin Brawn, Timothy Griffin; 5 grandchildren: Jason David Maloney, Alessandra Lewin Brawn, Michaela Mae Brawn, Kyle Griffin, Nathan Griffin: 6 Great Grandchildren: Nash India Neidich, Alexander Dennison Arnett, Colby Griffin, Kyle Griffin, Hunter Griffin, Veronica Griffin and 1 Great-Great Grandchild Raya Griffin.

SERVICES – There will be a Celebration of Life on October 4, 2024. Church services for family and close friends will be held at 10:00AM at the First United Methodist Church on Miller Avenue in Portsmouth, NH, followed by a reception at Jimmy’s Jazz Club, 135 Congress Street in Portsmouth. The J. Verne Wood Funeral Home Funeral Home has been entrusted with her arrangements; for online condolences, please visit www.JVWoodFuneralHome.com