Ruth Duncan,92

Ruth Katharine (Lemmert) Duncan, 92, of Williamstown, MA, died at Williamstown Commons on April 2, 2023. Born in Baltimore, MD, March 12, 1931, the only child of the late J. Vernon Lemmert and his wife, the late Katharine M. (Lotz) Lemmert, she resided in Baltimore’s western suburbs for 56 years. An honors graduate of both Catonsville High School and Valparaiso University in Indiana, she took graduate study at Stanford University. Prompted by a breakdown, she rejected teaching in favor of office work for several firms including her home church, Emmanuel Lutheran, and became a district officer/counselor in the Walther League, Lutheran youth organization.

In 1960-61, she toured most of the US performing Christian chancel dramas as sermons in church services, with Cross and Crown Productions, Inc., out of Indiana. Back in Baltimore, she resumed office and youth work while managing a resident company for Cross and Crown.

In 1967 she began a twenty-year career programming mainframe computers for the Social Security Administration at its home office. There she met James Bruce Duncan. They married Friday, July 13, 1973. Together they joined the Episcopal Church. For over a decade, singly or together, they were active in community theatre: Catonsville Little Theatre and its dinner theatre branch, Theatre-on-the-Hill (which they managed for four years with most productions starring Ruth and directed by Bruce), Fells Point Theatre, and others.

Responding to her husband’s call to the ordained priesthood, the Duncans retired from Civil Service in 1987 and moved to The General Theological Seminary in Chelsea, Manhattan, NY. While Bruce studied, Ruth programmed for Coopers and Lybrand in their Broadway office. Late in 2001, they moved into their retirement condominium in Williamstown, MA.

Over the years, locations permitting, Ruth sang in church choirs, gardened, sewed, campaigned for Democratic candidates, volunteered for community efforts, acted and wrote for amateur consumption. She is survived by her spouse.

Donations may be made to Episcopal Relief and Development, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017. To add to the Book of Memories, please visit flynndagnolifuneralhomes.com.