Ruth Bear Levy, 1898-1994

Born in Lonaconing, Ruth Bear graduated from Central High School in 1917 and earned her bachelor's degree in English from Goucher College, Baltimore in 1921. It was in Baltimore where she met and married her husband, Dr. Charles Levy.

Although she did not take up art until relatively late in life she became a well-known artist and portrayed many images of Baltimore neighborhoods and marketplaces as well as her native Lonaconing and Western Maryland countryside. Ruth’s artwork has been exhibited in the Peale Museum and Easton Art Gallery and can be found in Goucher College, the Jewish Museum of Maryland, the University of Maryland University College, and the Georges Creek Regional Library.

In 1983, the Maryland Historical Society published Ruth Bear Levy’s book about growing up in Lonaconing at the turn of the century entitled, A Wee Bit O’ Scotland.

Ruth loved baseball, and grew up playing ball with her childhood playmate, future Hall of Famer, and Lonaconing native, Lefty Grove. Her two-part series, “Recollections of Lefty Grove: Baseball’s Greatest Left-handed Pitcher”, appeared in Maryland Historical Magazine over the summers of 1987 and 1988.

From Maryland Artsource