Ruth Ann Cullinane ... enjoyed hiking; at 83

SOMERSWORTH - Ruth Ann Cullinane, a long-time Somersworth resident, died May 2, 2024, in Sarasota, Fla. She was 83. Over a span of many years, she established needed speech and language services for several New Hampshire and Maine schools, as well as Frisbie Memorial Hospital and other regional medical facilities. She frequently worked in conjunction with the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center and the University of New Hampshire.

Born in Newark, N.J., the daughter of Peter and Ruth N. (McCracken) Wovkonish, Ruth grew up in Auburn. She attended local schools and graduated from Manchester Central District High School. Always active in community affairs while in high school, she was selected as delegate to the American Legion Girls State Leadership and Citizen program. A 4-H Club member for over ten years, she was chosen to be a New Hampshire state delegate to the National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago, Ill. Ruth graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1962 with a major in English Education. In her senior year, she was inducted into Tau Kappa Alpha, a national honorary forensic society. After graduation in 1963 she pursued her master's degree in communication sciences on an Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Honors grant from Boston University. She interned at Boston University Hospital.

She met her husband, Robert L. Cullinane, while in the Debate club at UNH and they married in 1964. Together they published a weekly summer newspaper, The York County News, in York County, Maine. Moving back to Boston, she served as Director of Speech and Language Services for the Stoughton, Massachusetts Schools. She was a consultant for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and the Massachusetts Nurses Association. In 1968 she started a speech and language program in the Dover Public Schools. She also began a private practice providing rehabilitation services for the Frisbie Memorial Hospital, several residential medical facilities, the Rural District Health Council, and the Rochester visiting Nurses Association. She often traveled over 100 miles a day, bringing services to homebound patients. Throughout her career, she traveled to conferences all over the country. In 1971, the New Hampshire Jaycees named her New Hampshire's Outstanding Young Educator. She was the Business and Professional Women's Outstanding Young Woman award recipient. In later years she launched an innovative instructional program teaching business and professional community members communication skills. She was an elected member of the Somersworth School Board for 12 years. She was also elected for two terms on the University of New Hampshire Alumni Board, serving as vice-president and fundraising chairman. She was a member of the Ranger Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution and served as vice-regent.

She and her husband traveled to six of the seven continents. She enjoyed packing a picnic lunch and boating along the quiet coves and harbors of Maine and the picturesque intercoastal waterway in Sarasota, Florida. She enjoyed hiking, reading, genealogy, and hosting dinner parties for family and friends. She is survived by her husband, Robert L. Cullinane, a brother, Peter I. Wovkonish and his wife, Doy of Sarasota, Fla., a niece, Leila N. Wovkonish, and a nephew, Peter Wovkonish. She was predeceased by her parents, Peter and Ruth Wovkonish of Auburn, and sister, Nancy C. Wovkonish, of Manchester.