Ruth E. Senne Mabie

MABIE, Ruth E. Senne Kalamazoo Ruth E. Mabie died Thursday, October 19, 2006 at Bronson Hospital with her family at her side. A memorial service will be held in the Kiva at Friendship Village at 1400 N. Drake Rd. at 11a.m. on Tuesday, October 24th, with the Rev. Sandra Elfring officiating. Ruth was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on June 8, 1915, the eldest daughter of the late Elethier Gearhart and Albert Arink. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a sister Doris Cutillo, and a brother, Robert Arink. She was a multi-talented woman who grew up learning and loving music and art. As a young woman she played viola in the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. She was also a painter who particularly liked painting watercolor still lifes, landscapes, pictures of her grandchildren, and her pets. She graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 1932 and continued her education at Western Michigan University, graduating in 1936 with a degree in art and a teaching certificate. In 1936 she married Lyle C. Tiny Senne. They had 4 daughters, Carol Anne Waszkiewicz, Elinor Ruth Cooper, Kathryn Elizabeth Senne, and Laura Jean Senne, all of whom survive. Lyle died in 1959. Ruth married Vern E. Mabie in November 1965. Also, in 1965 she earned her Master?s degree in the Teaching of Art. She taught art in the Kalamazoo Public Schools for a number of years before retiring in 1972 and moving with Vern to Petoskey, Michigan, where they lived on Pickeral Lake and where she caught the largest bluegill in Emmet County in one of the yearly fishing contests. She was also active in the Crooked Tree Art Center, the Epsilon United Methodist Church, and the Friendship Center Senior Chorus. Vern Mabie passed away in 1991. In 2005 she returned to Kalamazoo to live at Friendship Village. In addition to her daughters, Ruth is survived by two step-children: Robert V. Joyce Mabie and Alice Jerry Neidlinger. She is also survived by thirteen grandchildren: Suzanne Jeffrey Powell, Elizabeth Tim Bennett, Margaret Paul Sampson, Stacy Jim Ross, Angela Waszkiewicz, Christine Peter ReiterCooper, Brendan Mabel Laguna-Senne, and Christopher Fanny Laguna-Senne, currently serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq, Alan Christine Mabie, Sharilyn Brian Parsons, Mark Neidlinger, Julie Alan Mack, and Wendy Rich Simpson. She is also survived by 18 great-grandchildren, three sisters, Jeanne Arink, Esther Clark, and Elizabeth RobertKavelman, 2 brothers-in -law, Charles Dick Senne, and Gus Senne and many nieces and nephews. Cremation has taken place. A private, family inurnment of cremains will take place at a later date. Memorials may be made to the Epsilon United Methodist Church of Petoskey, the Crooked Tree Art Center of Petoskey, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the American Heart Association, Amnesty International or a charity of one?s choice.