Ruth Kemmerer Dorf died peacefully in her sleep on February 11, 2014 at 104 years old. Because she lived so long and because she loved so many, she had many friends and admirers.

Ruth was born in 1909 in Ithaca, New York, the only daughter of Edwin Walter and Rachel Kemmerer. The family soon moved to Princeton, New Jersey where her father took a position as Professor of Economics at Princeton University, which he held until his death. She often would tell stories of her childhood in Princeton – hitching her sled behind the horse drawn milk wagon, sleeping on a sleeping porch with her family on Fitzpatrick Rd. and wheeling a parrot dressed up in doll's clothes around the neighborhood. She attended Miss Fine's School and the Walnut Hill School where she excelled, especially in athletics. Her father enrolled her in Wellesley College when she was born and, in 1928 she went to Boston and attended Wellesley where she majored in chemistry. ("Chemistry, Mom? What was fun about that?" "Well, I liked the way it made me think.") She was very thankful for the education she received at Wellesley and was an active volunteer for the alumnae association throughout her life. In 2002, she attended her 70 ^th reunion there with a few of her remaining classmates.

Her family traveled a great deal, and Ruth learned how to manage for herself at an early age and also how to change the rules. She would say "unless it's illegal, when someone asks you to do something, do it and expose yourself to life." That's probably why she flew on one of the first commercial airlines coming home from a vacation in Boston and then told her parents that she had taken the train; or accepted her father's graduation gift of going around the world on a rusty freighter with a close friend; or traveled wherever and whenever she could; be it alone or with her future husband or her beloved brother, Don. It might have been why she decided to volunteer as the make-up artist at a community theater event where she met Erling Dorf, a young professor of Geology at Princeton University, who was also acting in the production. The name of the production is long lost to history, but the meeting produced sparks and Ruth and Erling were married a couple of years later in 1934.

Ruth did what was expected of her as a young bride – cleaned house, learned to cook ("I couldn't even boil an egg when I married your father"), and went to Geology Department socials, but she knew that life was more than that. As they started having children (Tom in 1936, Norm in 1938, Bob in 1941, and Molly in 1948), she threw herself into rearing her family. Ruth was devoted to her family and not only thought about how to care for them, but how to make life an adventure. At various times in their lives, the Dorf household had dogs, cats, crows, magpies, a monkey, birds, a squirrel, and cats. One of Bob's earliest memories is of his Mom bringing garter snakes to him in her golf bag after she played. She took him on her bike packed in the wicker basket during World War II, took the family West to follow Erling's geology pursuits, enrolled them in swimming and tennis classes, took them ice skating on Lake Carnegie, and secretly cringed as her oldest, Tom, made his own airplane from a kit, or as her daughter, Molly, went to Africa for the summer. She reminded the kids that life was to be looked at straight on with a twinkle in your eye.

Whatever Ruth decided to do, she would do it with gusto: despite her earlier problems with food preparation, she became a very accomplished cook with a local reputation for good parties and great food. Ruth's sense of humor as well as her love of people made her parties the talk of the town – people always had fun.

When she realized that all four kids were going to need braces and a professor's salary was not going to stretch that far, she parlayed her love for baking into a cottage-industry baking and selling "Mrs. Dorf's Homemade Rolls" often making, baking, and packaging as many as 80 dozen rolls a day. The kids got straight teeth.

Perhaps the greatest example of her wisdom was her response to son Tom's death in 1958. Without any books to guide her, she pulled her family through the grief of his sudden loss by, again, looking at life straight on and teaching them all how to cope. She took a job as a snack bar manager at the local YMCA just so she wouldn't be at home feeling sorry for herself. She never let the kids forget their brother, nor did she let them get morose about his passing.

People remember her as "always there," friendly and warm –always easy with a hug – making homemade bread and rolls, filling the house with that comforting smell, easy with her laugh and her love, eager to hear about your adventures and not be judgmental if they didn't work out. None of her children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren ever doubted that she loved them and loved them for who they were.

She was classy – knew how to set a table, how to dress for a dinner dance, but also knew how to fish the Yellowstone River. She could talk with all different kinds of people and always let them know she had listened. She was a world traveler – flew on the Concord and visited all seven continents. She was a health nut who exercised and took vitamins until she was 98, but who had a secret passion for Thomas Sweet chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce, a great fondness for Jack Daniels whiskey, and an appreciation for an ice cold beer. She was funny, loving, refined (with a naughty streak), and always interested. She was resourceful when she had to be and generous when she could be.

It was good that Ruth lived for 104 years because she was still telling stories that many of her children hadn't heard right up to her death. In the end, the span of time that she was here made her appreciate life even more and pass that enthusiasm on to whomever she met – and for this, the family will always be grateful.

She was preceded in death by her sons Tom(1958), Norm (2007), and her husband of 50 years, Erling (1984).

She is survived by son, Bob; daughter, Molly; 7 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.