For a woman born more than a century ago, Ruth Endicott lived an unconventional life: she got her pilot’s license in her 20s, became a medical doctor in her 30s, married at age 40, had two kids and didn’t retire until she was nearly 90 years old.
Endicott passed away earlier this month at the age of 103, but just weeks before spoke with Maine Public reporter Patty Wight as part of our series of conversations with Maine centenarians.
Some memories flow more easily than others from Ruth Endicott’s 103 year-old mind. The Gettysburg address? Easy. But ask her about herself, about her fondest memory? That’s tougher.
“Fondest memory? I can’t remember that, dear. I guess they’re all so good,” she says.
Endicott’s daughter, 60-year-old Lynne Freeman, is alongside to help jog her mother’s memory. She pulls out a wooden box about the size of a shoebox and reminds her mom that she used it to catch bullfrogs as a little girl to sell as bait.
“I remember that I had them stored up,” Endicott says. “I had enough for about four days. The fishermen, they didn’t come back anymore. The tourist summer had gone by. I was stuck with four days worth of frogs. I was so sorry.”
Endicott says she grew up on a farm in Belgrade and, yes, really did walk a mile to and from school in the snow. After graduating, she got a job doing office work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. As her daughter reminds her, she also picked up an unusual hobby.
“You had gotten your pilot’s license, remember?” Freeman says.
Endicott says she befriended the wife of a pilot who also knew how to fly and learned from her.
“I was working at the Navy yard, and I would come every afternoon that I could, out to the place I could fly,” she says. “There was one time I planned to fly up to Belgrade and pick up my parents and surprise them. But the world war began and I couldn’t even do that. I remember what a disappointment that was.”
During World War II, Endicott joined the Women’s Army Corps and worked as a court stenographer in London. Her service would later earn her four medals. After she returned to the U.S., she studied chemistry at Colby College, then went on to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania and became a family doctor.
Endicott returned to Maine to do her residency at Maine Medical Center, where she met her future husband, Miles Freeman.
“You were an intern and Daddy was a med tech. And he came into the cafeteria where you were sitting with a friend. And you nudged your friend and said, ‘I’m going to marry that man,’” Freeman says.
“He had black hair too,” Endicott says.
“Like your father,” Freeman says.
The couple bought a house in Ogunquit, out of which Endicott based her medical practice. She made house calls — her record was 800 in one year — until she retired at age 89.
During our visit, Freeman tells her mother about a birthday card she received the year before.
“So many people have said it was you, ‘that inspired me to become a doctor as a woman,’” Freeman says. “Last year you got a card from a doctor. She wrote and said that her father used to bring her to see you. Because he wanted her to see that women could be doctors, and so she grew up to be a doctor.
“You inspired a lot of people,” she says.
Then, just as she’s done throughout this visit, Endicott thanks her daughter for holding her memories.
“Well. I’m glad you can remember that. Thank you honey,” she says.
“You’re welcome, Mom,” Freeman says. “To have a parent that is 103, there’s such history in this family. And so much of it, I don’t know, because my mother was so private. She never spoke of herself. She was very humble, very quiet. And she’d much rather talk about you, and where you’re from and what your life is like than to talk about herself. And I’ve always admired that about her. But on the other hand, I don’t know — I don’t know a whole lot. And I only find out these things when other people come along and remind her of something.”
What does Endicott think is the secret to a long life? She’s not sure, but her daughter suggests it was her habits.
“How about clean living? No smoking, no drinking, no card playing,” Freeman says.
“No card playing, even,” Endicott repeats, and they share a chuckle.
Endicott passed away, peacefully, at home, on Dec. 1.
This interview will air the week of Dec. 23, and is presented in partnership with Down East magazine.
