Background
Ruth Urice was born in Vinton, Iowa, in 1919 to Mr. and Mistress Logan Urice. Her father later retired as the postmaster of Vinton and her mother had a Master"s degree in home economics.
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Ruth Keeton
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Education
Ruth attended Northwestern University in the latter 1930s and graduated as a Phi Beta Kappa member.
Career
In addition to this elected office, she was appointed to serve with multiple state committees including the Baltimore Regional Transportation Committee and Housing Task Force. Early in their relationship, Ruth and Morris manned an inter-racial work camp for their Quaker church in Chicago, intended to break down racial discrimination. The couple moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1947 when Morris began a 30-year tenure with Antioch College.
Morris taught in Germany in the mid-1950s while Ruth worked abroad for the American Friends Service Committee.
During this time in August 1954, Ruth"s mother died in an airplane crash in Iowa. The Keetons moved to Maryland when Morris helped form an Antioch College campus in Columbia in 1969 with James Rouse.
Keeton served as council chair from 1979 to 1984, and championed community causes such as affordable housing. In 1981, Governor Harry Hughes appointed Keeton to the Maryland State Housing task force.
When leaving public service for health reasons eight years prior, Howard County leaders dedicated a room with her name in Columbia"s Harper"s Choice community center.
The Ruth Keeton House was also established nearby, on Ruth Keeton Way, to provide assisted living for disabled elderly people.
Membership
From 1975 to 1988, Keeton was a member of the Howard County Council, running on a slate of Columbia residents sponsored by the Columbia Democratic Club including Ginny Thomas, Lloyd Knowles and Richard Anderson. She was a member of the Patuxent River Commission which produced a land management plan for the river"s watershed in 1984.
