Ruth Dye

Ruth Dye loved life. Every day, she found a reason to be grateful, joyful, and present in the world around her. Guided bya quiet fighting spirit, she faced life’s challenges with grit and determination. For Ruth, happiness was at once a choice, and also a natural state. Ruth Anna Dye, née Witt, 97, of Mt. Pleasant, died late Thursday evening, October 22, 2026. She passed away peacefully under hospice care, having lived a life rich in love, family, and friends.

She was born on October 15, 1929, in Mt. Pleasant, the third child and second daughter of George Edward Witt and Ella Minnie Witt, née Gratzinger. Growing up during the Great Depression, she was nearly inseparable from her older sister, Emily. She picked berries on Sand Hill, and regularly made the two-and-a-half-mile walk with her father from their home in downtown Mt. Pleasant to fish at the newly built Bridgeport Dam. In town, her father rented an empty lot where he grew vegetables, which Ruth and Emily sold door to door, up and down the street. She vividly recalled, as a young girl, huddling in the dark during WWII blackouts and helping budget household goods in the days of ration books. Living was lean during the Depression and the war years, she said, yet she always followed with, “but we wanted for nothing.” Ruth got her first job at age thirteen, helping support the family, and rode out life’s ups and downs in an American girlhood of the Greatest Generation. Some days were, indeed, dark. Once, their home was placed under quarantine as her baby sister, Virginia, battled an aggressive case of spinal meningitis. But Ruth chose to live in the light, and sought out fun wherever she could. She was also a bit of a daredevil, taking her first plane ride as a teenager, in a small aircraft piloted by her older brother, David. They flew from Mt. Pleasant to Pittsburgh and back.

Ruth attended Ramsey High in Mt. Pleasant; the building still stands, and is the site of the present-day Ramsey Elementary. On a typical day, she would go to school, come home and change, and work late into the evening, after which she completed her homework. She once recalled, when asked, that she did notattend prom, because no prom was held. “There were no boys to go with,” she said. “They were serving in the war.” She was working as a soda jerk at Ultz’s Restaurant, Main Street Mt. Pleasant, when a Navy Seabee named Ray Dye, having recently returned from the South Pacific, walked in. It was a chance meeting that became a love for the ages. They married just months later, in November of 1947. Had she gone to college, she later recalled, she would have studied psychology. Ultimately,she became a homemaker and true partner to Ray, a life choiceshe embraced fully and with unwavering commitment. Their song was, and ever remained, “Always.”

In the 1950s, Ruth and Ray, and their oldest daughter, Jackie, lived for a time on Pearl Street in Scottdale, nearby the service station Ray operated on Homestead Avenue. They moved to Connellsville, where Ray commenced a long career at Anchor Hocking, and their family grew to include daughters Janice and Anita. At their two-story brick house on Cottage Avenue, Connellsville, they raised all three girls, celebrated their twenty-fifth and fortieth wedding anniversaries, and welcomed several grandchildren. (“How many calories are in that cookie, Grandma?” “I took out all the calories,” she said.) In the early 1990s, they returned to Ruth’s hometown of Mt. Pleasant, bought a smaller home, and commenced a busy life of active retirees. Together, they logged hundreds—maybe even thousands—of miles delivering Meals on Wheels, traveled the country on their own and with friends, and maintained an active social life at the Connellsville Area Senior Citizens Center, where Ruth served on the board of directors.

After Ray’s passing in 2010, Ruth grieved him. She mourned her husband for the remainder of her life. But this period also revealed something else about Ruth, something miraculous: her indomitable spirit and determination to continue living life to the fullest. Through the unimaginable grief at the loss of her middle daughter Janice at age 59, through injuries and illness borne from advancing age, through innumerable setbacks, Ruth got back up and endured. Past age ninety, Ruth was driving, cookingand baking, keeping her house impeccably clean, and serving on the board of the Connellsville Senior Center. She took great pride in living independently, which she did for all but the last year of her life, where she resided comfortably at Ridgeview Residential Care in Youngwood, always welcoming visitors with a smile and a wink. She enjoyed the people and held a close relationship with the residents and employees.

Ruth is survived by her daughter, Jacqueline Zeissler (Myron) of Arizona. She also leaves behind grandchildren Jacque Day Pallone (Arthur) of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, Jennifer Day (Cameron) of Australia, Matthew Day (Alma) of Chicago, Erin M. Marrero (John) of Washington, Pennsylvania, Justin S. Shallenberger (Devon) of Washington, Pennsylvania, Heather A. Heald of Connellsville, Wayne M. Rath of Everson, and several great grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and loved ones. Ruth was mother to many pets in her lifetime. Most predeceased her, with the exception of her beloved cat Chloe, who now lives, thrives, and enjoys the daily zoomies in the home of granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Jacque and Art. In addition to her parents, Ruth was predeceased by her husband, Raymond Kenneth Dye, daughter Janice Rae Rath, sisters Emily Dottore and Virginia Stennett, and brother David Witt.

In honoring Ruth’s life, family and friends will be received from 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm on Monday, October 26, 2026 at the Graft-Jacquillard Funeral Home, 303 Pittsburgh St, Scottdale where her funeral service will be held at 11 am on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 with Pastor Christopher Miller officiating. Interment will follow at the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant.

If you prefer to make a donation in Ruth’s memory, please consider the cat rescue, M. Sorokas Angel Rescue in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. For online condolences, please visitwww.gjfuneral.com.