Ruth Curtiss, former co-publisher of the Republican Journal in Darlington, died June 14, 2015, at the age of 97.
Curtiss was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to Stoughton with her mother and two young siblings after losing her father to influenza. Curtiss graduated tied for valedictorian before attending UW-Madison, where she graduated summa cum laude in economics and pre-law. In college, she fell in love with a journalism student and married E. Bowden Curtiss in 1942, who preceded her in death in 2000.
Ruth and Bowden purchased the Republican Journal newspaper in 1948 and were co-publishers until their retirement in 1981. In addition to writing a popular weekly column during most of those years, Ruth spent many hours a week on the business side. On press day, no page escaped her scrupulous proofreading eye.
She and her husband had three daughters, two sons, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
