In accordance with her wishes, Ruth (Rudy) Eliot Boyd was able to pass away in her beloved home on the hill above the Orcas ferry landing following hospitalization and care for stroke.

There, after being visited by a succession of family and friends in the following days, Mrs. Boyd died peacefully during the night of Oct. 13 at the age of 95. At her request, her remains will be cremated and her ashes spread over the wooded hillside surrounding her home with its sweeping view of Wasp Passage and the islands. She wished no funeral services and needed none to be well remembered.

Mrs. Boyd was born Aug. 1, 1911, in Weston, Mass. She grew up in Rhode Island and attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she studied nursing. During World War II, Mrs. Boyd volunteered with the local Red Cross.

After living many years in La Jolla, where she operated a leather craft business and raised three children, she and her second husband, William (Bill) Boyd moved to Orcas Island in 1963.

The Boyds purchased a home on the hill above the Orcas ferry landing with an expansive view of the Sound and the islands. They established an electrical contracting business and wired many of the homes built on Orcas after 1963.

Mrs. Boyd volunteered for many years at the Orcas Library. She and her husband, Bill, used their boat, the Alice E, as a race committee boat for the Orcas Yacht Club for many years.

She was an avid reader, with her own extensive library. She kept a log of books she had read and a huge dictionary at hand to look up the increasingly few words she didn’t know. She loved to garden and kept her grounds bird-friendly with feeders.

Always adventurous, Mrs. Boyd enjoyed swimming in the ocean and flying in small airplanes and was always interested in learning new things.

She faced each day with enthusiasm, taking up weaving in her 80s and was still using her loom at the age of 95.

Mrs. Boyd was preceded in death by her son, Larry Clever, and her husband, Bill.

Mrs. Boyd is survived by her sister, Mary Winsor, of Rhode Island; two daughters, Mary Annette Ybarra, of Silver City, N.M., and Nancy Eliot Drake, of Anacortes; five grandsons, Pepper Ybarra, Seth Ybarra, Paul Balli, Mark Clever and Nicholas Drake; four great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Anyone wishing to do something in Mrs. Boyd’s name is asked to donate to the Orcas Library, 500 Rose St., Eastsound, WA 98245.